


Strange New Worlds

by thunderscape7



Series: Trekkin' Through Thedas [1]
Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition, Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: 24th Century, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Art, Awkward first encounters, Body image insecurities, Explicit Language, F/M, Klingon language, M/M, Mild Sexual Content, Minor Character Death, Multiple Pov, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Prosthesis, Science Fiction, Slow Burn, Some major canon divergence, Starfleet in Thedas, The Borg, The Enterprise-E, Thedas in Space
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-01
Updated: 2017-05-07
Packaged: 2018-07-12 20:08:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 48,700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7120642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thunderscape7/pseuds/thunderscape7
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Corypheus' breach interferes with a wormhole in the Beta Quadrant, a small science vessel is sent to investigate. Sucked into Thedas, Lieutenant Eryn Dawson gets stranded with the inquisition when her shuttle crashes and endeavors to make friends while also maintaining Starfleet's regulations concerning non-warp civilizations. But Starfleet isn't the only organization that notices the anomaly leading to Thedas and soon the inquisition will face a much larger problem.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Debriefing

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Light & Casual](https://archiveofourown.org/works/4685450) by [Six_Lily_Petals](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Six_Lily_Petals/pseuds/Six_Lily_Petals). 
  * Inspired by [Keep to the Stars](https://archiveofourown.org/works/4651176) by [MaryDragon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaryDragon/pseuds/MaryDragon). 



> “Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before.”  
> \-- Star Trek: The Next Generation
> 
> Short chapter to set the scene

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> edited: 6/25/16

Admiral Haggard sipped at his tea as he looked over the report on his personal display screen in his hand. It had been quite some time since he had been aboard a galaxy class starship, too much time spent at a desk at Starfleet. The opulence of the luxury ship surprised him. His last assignment had had a compliment of 100 crew members. The _Imperial_ housed almost 700 crew members along with civilians.  He could understand why many captains refused the promotion to Admiral to remain on a ship's bridge. The door chime chirped it’s three tone rhythm and he set down his cup. “Enter.” His back faced the doorway where he sat in front of the oval table.

The doors slid open with its normal mechanical swoosh and a robed figure came to stand beside the admiral. “Ambassador Velek, please, sit down.” With nothing more than a curt nod, the vulcan swept up his robes and sat beside Haggard. His short, black hair cut evenly along his head, curving around pointed ears and dipping between arched brows. A large circular amulet hung over the neck of his tunic.

“Admiral,” the Vulcan ambassador said formally. His robes were a deep indigo with important, swirling insignia to mark his connection to the Vulcan Council. “The _Godavari_ is late for our meeting.”

“You only just arrived, Ambassador,” Haggard replied with an amused grin. He took another sip of his tea. “I’m sure they will be along soon.”

Velek raised a pointed eyebrow, his face stoic but calculating. “Are you sure that this ship is the correct choice for the investigation? There is a Vulcan science team available and ready on our cruiser.”

Haggard set his cup down once again. “With all due respect, Ambassador, the four persons I have chosen for this mission are, indeed, capable enough for the task.” He pulled up something else on his personal display but then looked back to the Vulcan at his right. “Though I do not fault your apprehension.”

The large conference room of the _USS Imperial_ sat ready for what looked like an important meeting. A few data pads and a paper file sat in front of the two federation members and a screen behind Haggard was lit up to a digital map of the quadrant with a dot marking a specific, unnamed location. A wall of windows to his left - directly across from Velek - showed a broad view of the stars and would show them when the shuttle arrived.

Velek sat stoically, his clinical gaze analyzing the room from underneath his angled brows. He folded his hands together and addressed Haggard. “Is it true, Admiral, that this small crew are some of the few that survived the _USS Ankara_ incident?” His tone, while level and calm, held judgement to it. “Including the Klingon who gained a rather substantial field promotion in order to lead a retreat?”

Haggard sighed. It wasn’t exactly common for officers at his level to particularly get along with the Vulcan Council. More often than not it was a measure in patience to make sure neither party was offended. The vulcans had been the first to greet Earth after humans gained the ability to have craft with warp speed technology. Since 2063, the vulcans always had a 'mother-hen' relationship with Earth; even after 300 years of technological development. “You have heard correctly. Commander Nakith-”

“Was barely past a junior grade lieutenant, Admiral. How did she possibly make Commander, let alone retain such an advanced rank upon her return?”

“The horrors of the _Ankara_ were not kind to any of the officers that returned. Many received necessary promotions in order to control a Miranda-class exploration craft. The tact and bravery that the few survivors showed led to many promotions of select standards, much like the _Godavari_.”

“A mere shuttlecraft. Meant for short transport.”

“A fully capable and equipped research vessel. They are a fine crew, including the vulcan lieutenant-commander T’lek that, I believe, had your recommendation to join Starfleet.” Haggard pushed a data pad towards the vulcan. “They have proven their abilities, I am not, however, saying that they deserve special treatment among others. That is why the survivors of that horrible incident either retired or, if they insisted on remaining in office, were moved to more concise assignments rather than being reassigned to a full starcraft. You know this, Velek, as you were a part of those decisions.”

The Ambassador nodded, though to say he seemed content with that answer was incorrect. Vulcans lived on logic, controlling and repressing their uncontrolled emotions for - what they deemed - a better life. “The ongoing investigation of the incident may change some opinions.”

“And if they do, my decision shall be revised.” Haggard agreed.

The console in the conference room beeped and a gruff voice spoke to the room. “Admiral Haggard, the _USS Godavari_ is docking now.”

“Good, Commander, send the crew to conference room two.”

“Aye sir.”

***

“Mm, nothing like the hum of a twelve billion gigawatt warp core and three impulse engines to remind you what a _real_ ship feels like.” The engines were able to hit warp 9 - the fastest a ship could go - and the core was one of the most powerful in Starfleet. The crew of the _USS Godavari_ walked through the docking bay towards the turbolift - an elevator that moved between decks. The upgraded roundabout served as vessel and home for the four-person research team. Usually only temporary, they added a larger engine and the ability to go to warp 5.

“Okay, Eryn,” the Andorian science officer to her right said, a bag slung over his shoulder, “put your lady boner away for the time being.” The lift blinked to life and whirred as it moved up into the ship.

Eryn snorted slightly and stretched her arms over her head, her left arm an exposed metal biosynthetic prosthesis. She had features like a vulcan - the pointed ears and arched brows - but her lighter skin was tinted green, her deep black hair hanging along the right side of her face. “Stop. I haven’t been able to work near nacelles like hers since the ‘Kara. Just you wait, we can sneak into the sickbay later and get you some-”

“We are here on important business, Lieutenant,” T’lek, the square shouldered, tan vulcan interjected. “It would be unwise to explore the ship given our reputations. You should see the logic in that.”

Eryn glared slightly, her arched brows narrowing. “I’m only half vulcan, T’lek, and Earth raised. I don’t need to see anything.”

“ _Sujatlh ‘e’ ylmev_. Quiet, both of you. You can battle for blood after our meeting.” Nakith, a tall, beautiful Klingon, with chocolate skin and pronounced brow-ridges, said as she shot the vulcan male a toothy grin, “I’ll even lend you my bat’leth.”

“That will hardly be necessary, Commander,” T’lek assured her as the turbolift slowed and the doors opened with a swoosh to show the door to the conference room just across the hall. A few of the _Imperial_  crew members walked by with little more than a glance as they stepped into the hallway.

“I think they changed the uniforms again,” Bohlran, an Andorian with bright blue skin, shoulder length white hair, and antennas on the top of his forehead, whispered as Commander Nakith stepped forward and pressed the door chime. It was only a second before the admiral’s voice answered calling them into the room.

Any banter left over from the turbolift was gone when they entered the room and stood before the admiral and the ambassador. None of the four were fools when it came to the authority over them, especially given the circumstances. All four of them were members of Starfleet - the Earth space organization supervised under the Intergalactic Federation of Planets.

“At ease,” Haggard said calmly and gestured to the table, “Sit. We have much to discuss. Ambassador Velek, I believe you know the crew. Commander Nakith Vrorc, acting captain of the _Godavari_ , her first officer lieutenant-commander T’lek, Lieutenant Bohlran Ch’qevil, science officer and exemplary medic, and Lieutenant Verrynsaar Dawson, head of engineering.” Velek merely nodded, while the titles sounded impressive, for a four person crew it made sense that each individual would have a singular role of high importance.

“Yes, I have read the dossier. It appears that the roundabout shuttle christened the _Godavari_ has been used on more specific scientific missions, mainly of discovery or data collection, is that correct Commander Vrorc?”

The Klingon sat tall and looked to the ambassador with respect, but also with an air of importance necessary to her position. “Yes. Ambassador Haggard has been our primary contact with Starfleet. We have spent the majority of the last year in the Beta Quadrant per his request.”

“Which is precisely why I called for this meeting,” Admiral Haggard stood and turned towards the map on the screen behind him. “A week ago one of our satellites picked up a strange reading in the southern corner of the Beta Quadrant. We sent a small vessel into the vicinity to see if we could get any more specific readings. The scans were inconclusive, however, we did get a few images off of our sensors.” He gestured to the screen and it changed from a map to a few pictures of a swirling dark green mass. The science team all stiffened as the looked at the strange images.

“What is that?” Eryn whispered as Bohlran instantly took out one of his personal data pads.

“The anomaly is unstable and unlike anything we have seen before. According to one of the scans it seems to have the similar components of a wormhole, however, something else is interfering. I want you to investigate and see if you can gain any more information. I don’t want to send anything large near it in case the mass of a starship would make it expand or collapse.”

Nakith leaned back in her chair and studied the images. “Do you think it could be borg?”

“There were no signs of any transwarp technologies near the site, we do not think that the Borg are involved at this time.” Velek answered. “We do believe that it could be dangerous, and we want your team to place warning beacons around the area to ward off any innocent passersby.”

“Why didn’t you send beacons with the previous vessel?” T’lek asked.

“They couldn’t get close enough, as I said, we didn’t want to risk the mass of a starship causing damage to something we know nothing about. Your ship has the equipment and the size to do the job well. I assume the upgrades you were planning have been implemented, Lieutenant Dawson.”

Eryn grinned. “All ready and tested. We should be well prepared.”

“Good. We will want a report back from you as soon as possible. So far, it doesn’t seem that the anomaly is creating any issues with communications, but up close it may be more difficult. Make sure you bring signal enhancers with you. I have already had supplies brought to your cargo bay.”

Nakith nodded, “Understood. Is there anything else?”

Velek met her eyes and stood. “Do try to keep it under control. While the anomaly does not seem populated at the moment, we do not need unnecessary attention brought to such a mystery. The less who near it the better.”

“We’ll make sure to be discrete, Ambassador.” Eryn assured him and he gave a tight nod, looking her up and down. Eryn was sure he was comparing the anomaly to the odd green tint of her skin.

Haggard nodded and changed the screen back to the image of the map. Bohlran noted the location. “Good. I’ll make sure that there is more information linked into your computer banks. Dismissed.”


	2. The Anomaly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things are getting interesting and the crew gets to Thedas.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rather long chapter but it gets a lot of ground covered. We finally get to meet the inquisitor in the next chapter. I haven't actually gotten very far in my Dorian Romance play-through so I'm going off of a lot of fic representations for reference. Either way, it's gonna be fun because the Inquisition crew are coming!
> 
> Wanted to get this uploaded because I'm proud of it. I apologize for any errors.

The science team left the _Imperial_ the next day once supplies had been loaded into the cargo bay and Bohlran had updated their computer logs of all available data. With a course set for the coordinates of the anomaly and the upgrades to engineering stabilized, Nakith called a crew briefing in the cockpit. Before their year together on the _Godavari_ , the four had all served together under Captain Jarren, though their positions were not nearly as intimate. Bohlran had worked in sickbay on deck seven while Eryn was stationed in engineering on deck twelve. Nakith had been on the bridge in assisting communications while T'lek worked on deck five.

“According to the preliminary scans, not only is the anomaly highly unstable, but also powerful. There is a lot of energy being generated for its size.” Bohlran explained, looking over the pads of information. He was relatively young with ice blue skin and curved antennae. The deep blue of his uniform complimented his complexion nicely. “I’m not sure if it’s advisable for us to get very close.”

Eryn nodded, the jacket of her uniform tied around her waist and her pen clipped to the neck of her gray, sleeveless undershirt. “It’s unlike any wormhole scans I’ve ever seen. This swirl pattern here, it’s oblong and too fast. It looks unnatural, like a slice in space.”

T’lek was studying the information with a detached interest. “There are no traces of interference, at least that our computers can identify. If it was caused by someone, it is a lifeform Starfleet has yet to encounter.”

“Which isn’t a good implication.” Nakith whispered, her curly hair pulled back behind her head. “But Ambassador Velek seemed pretty certain that it wasn’t much of a threat.”

“How could he know though?” Eryn asked. “No one has gotten close enough yet. We’ll get as close as the scanners allow and if we can’t get near enough we stop and call Haggard.”

T’lek looked up at her. “The Ambassador wanted detailed information on the anomaly.”

“Now who is ignoring logic?” Eryn whispered and she met the vulcan’s eyes before leaning back. While they didn’t dislike each other, a lot of their relations were tense.

Eryn’s heritage made quite a few people uneasy with the mix of vulcan and orion blood - where she gained her green complexion. The story she knew was that her father, a vulcan science officer, had been on a mission with his ship when he entered pon farr. Not wanting to create tension amongst his small ship he took a shuttle to Risa where he met an Orion slave girl. Orions are typically a green skinned, seductive race. Males of the race are slaves to the females, but in order to deceive other species the women are often portrayed as slaves and sold. Once sold to an unsuspecting man, the Orion woman's physiology becomes their tool. Their highly potent pheromones accelerate the metabolism of the males which increasing adrenaline levels to dangerous levels - resulting in aggression and, ultimately, a form of delusion. Because vulcans are immune to the effects of female orion pheromones, it was considered a simple transaction. At a year old, Eryn’s mother was killed and she was adopted by a human couple who eventually brought her back to Earth to raise in a stable environment. Like many vulcan hybrids, she retained the pointed ears and arched eyebrows of her father’s race and she gained a green tint to her skin from her mother, however, her orion pheromones only seemed to affect those around her with bouts of extreme emotion - usually anger - on her part. People tended to be more unsettled by her appearance than actually affected.

Nakith sighed, muttering a few curses in Klingon, rubbing the ridges of her forehead. “Do you think our sensors can pick up anything more at a farther range than the previous ship, Bohlran?”

“No. While we do have upgrades installed, we don’t have anywhere near the same tech as a fully staffed science vessel, the best we can do is try to get closer and see if we can get more detailed results.”

Eryn thought a moment, “I could see if I can recalibrate some of our sensors according to the information we already have. Maybe I could optimize the chance that we could pick up something more at a farther range. I can’t guarantee a result, but it could possibly make a difference.” Nakith nodded in approval.

“Good, we can’t do much else until we reach the coordinates. T’lek, I’d like you to figure out different options for the approach of the anomaly. I want to keep as safe a distance as possible.”

“Yes Commander.”

Marking the Commander’s words as the end to the meeting, Eryn rolled her shoulders and headed towards the back of the ship to check on the engines. She wanted to double check that her upgrades were working correctly and then she could fiddle with the scanners. She didn’t notice her Andorian coworker following her out. “Dawson,” his voice was firm and she sighed, trying very hard not to roll her eyes.

“What do you need, Bohlran?” She asked, grabbing her tricorder - a multifunction hand-held device used for sensor scanning, data analysis, and recording data - and a few of her tools.

Bohlran crossed his arms, giving her a level look. “You missed your appointment this morning.”

“Oh man, sorry. Guess I forgot.” She bent down near one of the consoles and pulled open the access panel.

“This is the third one you’ve missed.”

“I’m _fine_ , Bohlran.” Eryn whispered, giving him an exasperated look.

“You were having chest pains two weeks ago.”

Eryn sighed. “And it got better. I’m fine. No more hyposprays for me.”

Bohlran crossed the room to her side and knelt down. “You need someone to talk to, Eryn. Doesn’t have to be me.” he examined her prosthesis. “You haven’t gotten it finished yet.”

“It is finished.” She tapped on the exposed metal of her forearm with her voltage-testing coupler. “Sturdy and ready to go.” Bohlran sighed.

“You know what I mean. The next time we go planet-side you could easily get it fitted for some synthetic skin. It’ll feel the same and-”

“We’ve had this conversation before, Bohlran. I don’t want it, I don’t care how realistic it will be. I don’t mind the naked metal. I don’t care the people can see it. I like how it is.”

Bohlran grunted and leaned heavily on his knees, pushing himself up out of his crouch. “You denied reconstructive surgery, you keep the metal. Are you trying to intimidate everyone you meet?” His mouth quirked into an amused grin and his antennae twitched. “It seems to work when you don’t wear your jacket.”

“Ugh,” Eryn hung her head a moment before continuing her inspection. “Like I said. I’m fine. The arm is fine, my ribs are fine, I’m doing _fine_.” It was a little moment longer before she stood up and turned to face him. “Why are you on about this? Is it hard to tell I’m a woman without breasts?” She grinned slightly as his cheeks blushed turqouise ever so slightly.

“You know that’s not what I mean, Eryn. I am a doctor. I worry for your mental health while dealing with all of this. The _Ankara_ was a horrible experience and now there’s a lot of change happening that-”

“Are you harping on the Commander like this?” She turned and went to a second console.

“What..? No. I haven’t been.”

“What about the Lieutenant-Commander?”

“Eryn.”

“No, why me? We all went through that pit of hell. Why are you harping on me all the time? Is it because I should keep my emotions in check? Is it because you think I can’t handle it?”

“You know that’s not true.”

“Then why is it?”

Bohlran sighed. “Nakith asked me to look out for you. She knows you can handle it but also wants you to know we all care. We’re all going through shit, even if it’s been a year and a half. But you’re like our baby sister here, and you need to know we’re here.”

“I know you’re here and I told you I’m fine.” She closed the console panel with a slam. “I’ve gotta go calibrate the scanners.” She pushed past the Andorian and walked back out to the cockpit computer system. She didn’t need to talk to him and she hated feeling like the child of the crew. With four people it was really easy for roles to become much more than they were and sometimes she really missed the slight anonymity of a larger ship, especially since she was the the most junior officer of the crew.

Eryn didn’t look up when she heard Nakith address her first officer. “T’lek, what’s our ETA?”

“At warp five we should arrive at our destination in 0300 hours, Commander.”

“Good.” Nakith grinned and spotted Eryn in the far corner. “Lieutenant Dawson, you have the bridge. Number one, come with me.”

T’lek followed the Klingon out the door and Eryn grinned knowingly as she sat down at the controls. She could adjust the scanners from there and keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary.

***

 

“Whoa.” Eryn gasped as they neared the anomaly. It was larger in person. It was massive and swirling at the edges. It looked like someone had taken a knife and sliced into the very fabric of the stars. The pictures didn’t do it justice. “That is definitely not a wormhole.” she breathed, fiddling around with the scanning console once more to finish up a few last minute calibrations.

“Computer input is completely erratic.” Bohlran added, struggling to keep up with the data collecting from their first wave of scans.

“T’lek, slow our speed. I don’t want to get too close to that thing.” Nakith shouted. They were moving too damn fast.

“I’m trying Commander, but something is interfering.”

“Lieutenant--!”

“On it.” Eryn bolted back to engineering as Bohlran struggled to make sense of their new information. To be safe, they had deployed the warning beacons upon reaching the coordinates of the first research vessel and then proceeded to move closer.

“Commander, I’m getting life signs.” Bohlran shouted and Nakith spun to him.

“From where?”

“It seems to be coming from the anomaly.”

“Inside it?”

“Or through it.” Bohlran added and Nakith grit her teeth and hit her combadge.

“Dawson, we need full control!”

Eryn’s voice answered, slightly muffled over the link. “I’m doing everything I can Commander. The anomaly must be interfering with our systems. I can’t gain control. We--” Her com cut off and Nakith hissed.

“Number One, I want this tug turned around!”

“Yes Commander.”

“Bohlran, log the life signs for later. We’re leaving.”

Bohlran blanched. “Commander. There is a strong energy pulse being emitted from the anomaly! It’s on a direct collision course.”

“Evasive maneuvers! Put us on full alert.” Nakith ordered, the alert siren blaring before she looked to her science officer. “Any radiation?”

“None Commander, but . . . I’m losing all scans and displays. We need to--”

An energy wave slammed into the hull of their ship and jolted them sideways. The blast from the anomaly was so strong that it knocked the crew off balance. The ship, however, had a direct course set for the tear in space, as if they were being pulled into it.

Bohlran groaned as he pushed himself off the deck. “Commander!” He rushed to the Klingon. She was winded from her fall, but nodded, affirming that she was alright. Bohlran then went to the vulcan. T’lek had whiplashed into the display module. No major injuries, but he was unconscious. The aft doors swooshed open and Eryn rushed in.

“What the hell hap--”

“Eryn! Grab my med bag.”

“Uh, Bohlran.” The power flickered and siren dulled.

“Now! There’s a hypospray in my bag.”

“Bohlran. We need to brace for impact!” Eryn shouted, rushing to stabilize their Commander as the ship collided into the anomaly in a flash of blinding green light and a tremor shook the very hull plating down to its core.

 

Eryn awoke to a blurry blue face angled over her. Her neck was sore from the clearly obvious fall she took to the floor and her ears were ringing. Somewhere in the back of her mind she realized that the red alert had stopped. When her eyes cleared a little bit more she could see a small bead of blood sliding along Bohlran’s forehead.

“You’re hurt.”

“Just a scratch,” he assured her, the distinct buzz of a tricorder in her ear. “Okay, take it easy. I don’t think anything’s broken.” He helped her to sit up and she groaned as she felt an ache in her lower back.

“What happened?”

“We collided with the anomaly and all seemed to blackout. Primary systems are running, but communications and full power are down. Lieutenant-Commander T’lek has a minor concussion but the Commander is merely unconscious as you were.”

“We went _through_ the anomaly?” Eryn gasped, rubbing her back as she stood up slowly and slightly regretted it.

“Yes, and we are in orbit of an unidentified M-class planet.” Bohlran confirmed. “According to our scans, the anomaly originated in this area.”

“Can we set up a communications link with the planet?”

“No. It doesn’t appear to be a technology based society. No warp capabilities, transcontinental communication, no signals at all. Though it’s hard to get an accurate reading. The anomaly is interfering with any in depth investigations. At least the atmosphere is similar to Earth.”

Eryn sighed. If the planet didn’t have scientific advances, could they possibly explain the anomaly? “Do we have enough impulse power to go back through?”

“No. We have enough systems to keep us in orbit, but the engines are down and the anomaly is less stable on this side. It’s impossible to say if it would return us to the Beta Quadrant.”

“Damn.” Eryn sat in one of the chairs on deck. Bohlran moved across to Nakith as she began to stir with a groan.

“Easy Commander.”

Nakith grit her teeth as she forced herself to her feet faster than she should have. “Status report.”

Bohlran relayed their situation to their commanding officer as Eryn moved to check engineering. All in all, everything seemed to be intact, but the systems were down just as Bohlran had said. It was feasible that the anomaly was much more concentrated since they were closer to the source, or that the planet itself created some sort of interference.

“Dawson.”

Eryn tapped her badge. “Yes Commander?”

“Status of the shuttle pod?” Their class of ship had a one-man pod on board in the cargo area. It wasn’t anything fancy, but it was enough in case of an emergency eject.

“Everything appears in working order.” Eryn moved to one of the consoles beside the pod. “Shuttle’s power appears operational, Commander.”

“Good. Gather what supplies you need and get ready to land on the planet. We need to get closer to the anomaly and the planet is our best bet.” Nakith ordered. Eryn hesitated.

“Commander, are you sure I’m the best option? I mean, away missions aren’t-”

“You know our systems better than anyone, Dawson. Bohlran needs to stay here with T’lek and has ordered me to rest for the time being. You are the best fit at this time.”

“Yes sir. Of course.” Eryn whispered and stood for a long moment near the pod. She didn’t have many away missions under her belt, but that wasn’t her main concern. She didn’t like the idea of going to an uncharted planet on her own where communications would likely be rare. But Nakith was right, they needed to figure out the source of the anomaly and how to negate its effects. To do that they needed to get down on the planet for decent scans.

“Okay then.” she whispered to herself, grabbing a travel bag and going farther into the cargo bay. She moved to a couple of supply cabinets that they always tried to keep fully stocked. First the essentials were needed: a pocket knife, lighter, small mirror, a couple packs of field rations, box wrench, a dual pronged coil scanner, tricorder, and a standard issue phase pistol. She then packed a medical kit, a spare data pad, a portable transporter signal, and a spare uniform. Grabbing a few additional tools and double checking her bag she slung it over her shoulder and used the smaller turbolift up to the main deck. Nakith was sitting at her station ready for her when she arrived.

“We want you to get as many scans of the anomaly as you can. Try not to interact with the local populations if you can, and if you do, remember the prime directive.” Nakith gave her a toothy grin, “Of course, if you don’t tell I won’t. Accidents happen. Just be careful down there. Use your best judgement.”

Eryn nodded. “I will. Communications might not work on the surface.”

“We’re aware. It’s risky, but we don’t have many options. If you wire me any data you find while you’re down there, I can try and adjust the computers up here and gain contact.” Bohlran added, sitting at one of the main consoles. “Hey, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

“Heh, if I did that I wouldn’t go to the planet alone.” Eryn smiled and gave him a playful punch on the arm. “I’ll leave in an hour. And I’ll keep contact as long as possible.”

***

“Damn, forgot how cramped it was in here.” Eryn breathed, she was keeping her com link open for the time being. It was claustrophobic to say the least. The pod was basically like a metal shell that could wrap around one person to get them from one point to another. It was the best that they could hold on their ship. “Okay, everything seems to be in order.”

“Alright, Eryn. If there is any sign of power failure I want you to turn around and come back if you can.” Bohlran said over the link.

“Aw, worried about me?”

“No. You we can save, it’s the pod we can’t get another of.” Eryn laughed dryly.

“Thanks for the sentiment, Bohl.” She said and sighed, her hands on the controls. “Okay, open the bay doors.”

Nakith chuckled. “Opening bay doors. And Eryn. _Qapla’!_ ”

“Heh. ‘Success and victory’ to you too Nakith.” Eryn braced as the bay doors opened and the shuttle pod took off and she started charting her exact course. They found a spot on the planet where the anomaly seemed to be centered and she planned to land near a secluded mountain range.

“You still there, Eryn?”

“I’m here Bohl, miss me already?” Eryn said, keeping her eyes on her displays and the small window of the pod.

“Just checking.” She could hear the tension in his voice. All of them were simply holding their breath until something occurred.

Eryn checked all her controls. “I’m entering the planet’s atmosphere.” She relayed, flipping on a couple sensors. “So far so good. Computer, status.”

_All systems running._

Good. Eryn’s eyes focused on the swirling green vortex in the sky. She took a deep breath and neared closer to the planet. It was unlike anything she had ever seen. None of the scanners were picking up activity, but something that acted like a wormhole was never fun. The disappearance of _Voyager_ through one had proved that much.

“You good?” Bohlran’s voice asked, startling Eryn out of her train of thought.

“So far. It seems . . . crap.”

“What? What Eryn?” Eryn was looking back at her display.

_Targeting Systems have failed._

Thanks computer. She fiddled with a few systems. “My targeting system is down and so are my scanners.”

“Eryn, turn back.”

Eryn furiously punched in a few commands. “Computer, disable autopilot.”

 _Autopilot is not responding_.

“Eryn?”

“I can’t turn back. Computer, all alert, evasive maneuvers.”

_Console not responding._

_Alert, a collision course has been initiated. Abort current course._

“Eryn what .... can you .... pend?”

“Bohlran? Lieutenant?” Eryn felt her heart beating in her chest as the navigating screen went to static. “Commander!”

Static. She could hear the muffled whispers of voices underneath the static of the com. “Shit shit shit.” The ground was nearing too fast. There was a tiny pod separating her from death with no secondary plan. She grabbed her spanner from her bag and opened up one of the consoles. If she could reroute some power from the thrusters maybe she could...

_Red Alert. Collision course set._

“I know, I know.” She could swear she was sweating bullets. Her hands slipped when she tried to work. If she undid her seatbelt she could reach better, but she could also die brutally if she failed to adjust the controls.

The pod jolted and shook as velocity increased. The computer cut out and the anomaly in the sky pulsed. She could see the green in the air, felt the change in pressure. Her hands shook. All power to the pod was gone as the pulse slammed into the pod.

She let out a slow, shaky breath as she watched the mountains come closer. “Well, as Nakith once said.... _Heghlu’meH QaQ jajvam._ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Heghlu’meH QaQ jajvam" - "Today is a good day to die"  
> Character images gotten from Star Trek Online. I hope to eventually finish my own image.  
> The anomaly is an image from Inquisition edited and overlayed in pixlr.
> 
> If the attached image isn't showing you can find it here: http://thunderscape-doodles.tumblr.com/post/154832086840/thunderscape-doodles-discovered-star-trek-online  
> Wanna chat? http://thunderscape-doodles.tumblr.com/


	3. Miel Lavellan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Miel Lavellan is back from Redcliffe with the mages and isn't sure what to do next. Then, something, and someone, falls from the sky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am a bit unsure about this chapter. I have a hard time having confidence in voicing pre-established characters. I tried to stay true to them, but if something sounds OOC, please let me know! It's how I will learn!!  
> Late night upload. Un-betaed. Possible errors but overall some fun with Miel the Herald of awkwardness and insecurities.

* * *

 

Herald of Andraste. The title was absurd, irrational, and a lie. A dalish elf, one who wasn’t even supposed to be at the conclave, as a vessel of Andraste’s will? It was laughable. Though, Miel couldn’t be sure if that was entirely true of course. He had been separated from his clan as they moved through Ferelden near the Frostback Mountains. He had always been a wanderer. He usually watched human villages with interest or collected strange herbs he found that didn’t serve any distinct purpose.

Clan Lavellan had been travelling to the Conclave. Their seeker wanted to keep an eye on the “Shems” and what decisions would be made at their meeting. He’d reached the Conclave in time, taking the seeker’s place. He could only guess that the rest was now being recorded for history texts.

Everything was a mess. He was stuck in Haven with a deadly mark on his left hand. He was making an awkward, horrible mess of the entire thing and he knew it. He could handle a few demons or protective procedures, but leading an army? Thankfully he had Cassandra, Leiliana, Josephine, and Cullen for help. Damn it all, Cullen . . .

“There you are, Frosty! Been looking all over for you.” Varric’s cheery voice cut through his train of thought. He’d forgotten he was in a back corner of the tavern. He’d gone to hide there temporarily since many people within the Inquisition hadn’t been too pleased with the decision he made taking in the mages from Redcliffe as allies.

“Frosty? Do we all get such charming names?” That deep, melodic voice. Dread wolf take him, it went straight to Miel’s bones. Varric chuckled.

“‘Course, Sparkler. It’s what I do best.” He winked at Miel from across the table.

Dorian smirked, drinking a deep red liqueur. “I assume it’s because of your dear Herald’s affinity for ice magic.”

“Oh no. Definitely because of his cold, cold heart.” Miel couldn’t help but laugh with the claim. Dorian seemed to enjoy it as well.

“Oh yes. I can see you are a natural, bloodthirsty killer.” he quipped.

Miel grinned. “I could fit right in with the magisterium, yeah?” He felt instant regret after saying it, not wanting to insult the handsome mage.

To his relief, and delight, Dorian laughed. “Of course. You’re a true evil, elven blood mage.” He raised his glass and took a drink as Varric chuckled into his tankard.

Miel smiled as Dorian met his gaze after a moment. “Quite the company you keep, Herald.” He commented. Bull and his Chargers, of course, were in their usual spots at the bar, Bull no doubt flirting with the barmaid with curly red hair and fluttering eyelashes. That coupled with Sera across the bar playing pranks on unsuspecting patrons, made for quite the group.

“Please call me, Miel. ‘Herald’ is just so . . .”

“Dehumanizing? Pompous? Orlesian?” Dorian offered. Miel nodded.

“Those and more.” He sipped his tea. “As for my companions, they are definitely unique, but they are probably some of the best people I’ve ever met.”

Varric grinned, “You didn’t say it quite like that on the Storm Coast.”

“It was miserable! You didn’t like it either.” Miel insisted, but Dorian gave the elf an intrigued look.

“Not a fan of the Qun?”

Miel blanched. “No no, he just . . . startled me. The Iron Bull is very big. It was intimidating at first since I am so short, even for an elf. He really is an honorable companion.”

Iron Bull’s booming voice overpowered the crowded bar. “Aw, I love you too, Boss.” Miel blushed red to the tips of his ears as a few Chargers laughed.

“N-no. I only meant . . .” but as the laughter drifted along the crowd, the teasing, light hearted nature became clear. “ _Fenedhis_ . . .” He muttered, pressing his face into his palms.

Varric patted his elbow. “Ah, don’t worry kid. Just a little fun. Hey Sparkler, did he tell you about when he first met Commander Curly?”

“Nope!” Miel pushed out of his seat with a grunt. “Nope, nope. I’m going to see if I can get some sleep. Goodnight.” As quickly as he could, he left the tavern to bunker down in his cabin and sleep off his embarrassment.

***

Alexius and his future tormented Miel’s dreams. Leiliana tortured and dying, Varric and Cassandra corrupted by red lyrium. Their voices eerie and corrupted as they glowed a dull red from the poison they had been forced to consume. He watched them die. He saw the army of the Elder One. Dark creatures that came in waves. If he hadn’t had Dorian there with him, he didn’t know what he would have done.

It was the fact that the Elder One’s future _could_ happen. That if he failed, if he wasn’t strong enough, the entire world would suffer. It was a weight he never wanted and he couldn’t get away from. He couldn’t even complain about it, at least not really, because it wasn’t like anyone else had any control over it either. Miel knew for a fact that if Leiliana or Cassandra had any choice, they would have pulled the Hero of Ferelden or some warrior out of the sky, not a scrawny elf apostate who couldn’t handle verbal conflict.

It was the smells from the dark future that stuck with him the most. The scent of death and rot eked out of every part of the castle, burning into his nostrils. It mixed with the sour tinge of lyrium that was _everywhere_ in that future and burned flesh after watching the boy named Conner burn himself alive. It was enough to make him sick for the rest of his life.

Leiliana killed Alexius. Felix was a shell of who he had once been. He was forced to watch his friends die as Dorian worked with the amulet. That fear, that panic in the last moments had been the worst torment he could remember. If he hadn’t trusted Dorian’s abilities, he probably would have rushed to fight alongside his companions.

Miel woke in a cold sweat from the nightmare he had lived and continued to see when he closed his eyes. His blood pounded in his ears and his knuckles white where he clenched at the sheets. “Ugh . . .” he groaned, running his hand through damp hair. He kept thinking he would wake up in the soaked basement again, that he would wake up and fail everyone who put their trust in him.

After sitting in the early-morning darkness til his breathing calmed and his pulse no longer threatened to burst through his veins, Miel pulled on some of the leather clothes he wore around Haven, pulled a cloak around his shoulders to keep out the chill, and decided to take a walk to try and clear his head. He didn’t really think of himself as one who liked the cold, but he had to admit that the snow was calming and the cold on this particular morning was refreshing.

“Herald.” Cassandra’s voice called from the side as he walked past the chantry. Miel stopped and smiled at the Neverran seeker.

When he had first met her as a prisoner, he never would have imagined that she would become such a good friend. “Yes, Cassandra?” He smiled warmly as he turned to face her.

“You are up early. Are you well?” He could see the concern written on her face.

“I’m fine, Cassandra. Just wanted to take a walk to clear my head. I promise, I’m alright.” He saw her tension ease just slightly. “Walk with me?”

“Unfortunately I cannot, Herald. I simply wanted to apologize. They way I spoke yesterday-”

“Think nothing of it. I understand. It was . . . a tense day.” Miel said with another reassuring smile. “And please, call me Miel. We are friends afterall.”

Cassandra faltered for a brief moment. “O-of course Hera . . . Miel. I shall see you in the War Room later?”

“Wouldn’t miss it.” Miel said before turning and continuing his walk through the quiet trails in Haven. He liked it best this way, when there were less people around and he was able to regain some form of anonymity. As he walked through the cold, the thin shoes he wore to keep frostbite away chilled, he allowed his mind to wander. Now-a-days his mind usually focused around the people he’d met and the crisis at hand.

The Breach he could never forget. It was swirling around above them with the burning anchor across his palm. His companions were thusly more present. While his opinions of Cassandra had changed as time passed and they worked together, Solas still made him uneasy. There wasn’t even any reason for him to feel that way either. Solas had been nothing but kind and helpful since the moment he had grabbed Miel’s wrist and closed the rift on the way to the temple. He chalked it up to how much of a loner Solas seemed to be. He _did_ spend a lot of time in the fade, afterall.

Vivienne was another one of his companions that he wasn’t too sure about. She seemed nice enough but also too full of herself. She liked the circles, and from what Miel had heard, the circles had been like prisons. How could anyone, especially a mage!, condone it? But no matter what his personal feelings may be, having the help from everyone was a blessing he would not deny. As his walk continued, Miel started wandering to where Dorian and Solas usually were. Adan had his cabin up there as well and it was a nice place that was kind of secluded from the crowds that Haven could draw in. He smiled at the thought of Dorian. He had been quite outgoing, still was, when they first met. Usually he wasn’t a fan of that but there was something about the mage that was charming. They’d been through hell together too, and that kind of experience tended to lead to deeper friendships.

His foot hit one of the snow covered step and a searing, blood chilling pain ran through his palm. His vision went white from the pain and he fell to his knees, slipping slightly as he gripped his left hand. The anchor’s pain was unlike anything he had ever felt before. It was heat, like being burned that started at his palm and and shot through his arm into his torso. Usually the anchor was a dull throb, but the breach above sizzled and popped and the anchor reacted in kind.

“Herald!”

“Miel.”

Dorian and Solas’ voices mixed as they rushed out to where he was, curled forward on the steps. The Breach calmed after a few moments and so did the anchor. Sweat was already cooling on his forehead by the time Miel was able to sit up. The two mages were peering down at him with concern as Dorian offered a hand. Miel took it gingerly, trying to urge his legs to have strength again.

“Are you alright?” Dorian asked, brow pinched.

“Y-yea. I think so. The anchor just . . .” Miel looked down at his hand as Solas looked contemplative.

“The Breach shifted,” Solas said, “hopefully it will not bode ill on Haven.” Miel nodded slowly before looking up at the sky.

“What do you think it means?”

“I am not sure. Perhaps a spirit in the fade can help.” He turned and walked back into his cabin.

Dorian helped Miel off the steps until the elf finally regained his composure. “Does that happen often?”

Miel shook his head. “No. I usually only feel it like that when there’s a rift nearby. That was just strange.” He looked at the breach again, wondering if he could spot if it had changed somehow. Solas seemed to have thought so. “But I’m alright now. If there were a rift in Haven, it would still be acting up.”

“I guess for the time being that means we’re safe.” Dorian flashed him a glorious smile. “You are up particularly early. Did you need something?”

“No, no. Just going for a walk. Clearing my head.” Miel assured him. “The last couple of days have been . . . long.” That wasn’t the right word for it, he wasn’t sure if he had the right words, but Dorian understood all the same.

“Very. How have you been faring? With all that has happened?” Miel saw the small amount of concern. What they saw in the dark future was enough to drive anyone insane. It was enough of a nightmare to last a lifetime and they weren’t done yet; _he_ wasn’t done yet.

“Better than I expected, not as well as I’d like. I’ll be alright.” Miel assured him with a small smile. He paused a moment. There was something he had been wanting to say but wasn’t ever sure if it was appropriate. “I’m . . . glad you stayed, Dorian.”

Dorian chuckled and patted his shoulder. “ _Someone_ has to be there to keep you alive.”

Miel smiled. He was surprised by how quickly he’d been able to speak so comfortably with Dorian. It was nice to have a friend in the Inquisition.

A shout came from behind them and a scout ran up from one of the farther trails. “Herald,” he bowed his head, out of breath. “Your worship. The breach pulsed int he sky and something fell.”

“What?” Miel gasped, pausing a moment to see if Dorian had anything to add. “What do you mean ‘from the sky’? What fell?”

The scout stood with his back straight. “We’re not entirely sure, Herald. After the breach shifted, something, almost like a shooting star, fell across the sky. It landed somewhere in the Frostback mountains.” He pointed behind himself. “I came to get you and Sister Leiliana immediately while others marked the location.”

Miel stiffened. If something else came out of the breach, what could that possibly mean? “Go to Leiliana and Commander Cullen, I’ll take Cassandra, Dorian, and Solas and meet them there.” Miel said authoritatively, the scout nodding before running up towards the chantry.

 

After collecting Cassandra and Solas, Miel grabbed his armor and staff and followed the scout’s path.

“Do you think Andraste could have sent another of her servants?” Cassandra breathed, her sword and shield at the ready. Miel didn’t waste the breath to remind the seeker that he wasn’t, in fact, a servant of Andraste.

Solas was keeping a close eye on the breach. “The last Herald we received did fall after an explosion. We cannot be sure that whatever fell is friendly.” He was speaking as if Miel wasn’t within earshot.

“You think demons could be falling from the breach itself?” Cassandra’s eyes widened.

“Should have packed an umbrella.” Dorian quipped, Miel snickered at the thought of Dorian standing in the middle of a shower of rage and despair demons in rain gear.

“It is not a joking matter, Herald. If demons could land anywhere, it-”

“I know, I know. It would be bad.” Miel assured her. He knew that situation would be bad, but there was no evidence of that yet. “But we-”

“Herald! Herald. Over here.” A scout called, motioning to his position near a campfire. No. There was smoke, but no flame.

“What in . . .” Miel stood beside the scout on the edge of a crater in one of the mountain pass. In the middle of the crater was a crumpled up, oblong casing that looked like armor. It was smoking and popping with electricity that he had only seen from Dorian’s magic. Taking careful steps, Miel walked down to get a closer look at the object, putting up a protective barrier just in case.

The object was hissing and smelled almost like a smith’s shop. It was made out of a metal that Miel didn’t recognize. A crushed bag made of an unknown material was pinned under a piece of the metal armor, lumpy in some places, and lying amidst some thin, colored ropes that sparked like the armor. “Cassandra, help me lift this.” Miel breathed, lifting a large chunk of the object off of the bag; both were careful of it in general. But as they moved the hunk of armor, he saw a hand and heard a small groan. His gasp of shock came out automatically.

“There’s a person!”

Dorian rushed down to help Miel and Cassandra lift hot metal pieces that had completely hidden the person. The person was crumpled over face first against the ground. They wore a black uniform of some kind and were smushed under what must have originally been a chair. Squatting down beside the still figure, Dorian brushed short, black hair away from the face to reveal a scar on a pale cheek and a pointed ear. They looked like a female, though her skin, which at first glance matched Leiliana’s in complexion, was tinted a pale green.

“An elf?” Cassandra gasped, though none of them knew the answer. There was simply too many questions and too much information, for any of them to fully comprehend or understand it.

“She’s injured.” Miel whispered, his eyes staying on a hand that was made of metal holding onto what looked like a thick, two-pronged fork. Solas pushed closer.

“We need to get her to Adan. Let’s turn her over so we can better lift her.”

Dorian helped Miel gently turn her over onto her back. There was a gash in her side bleeding . . . green! Miel caught a small amount of golden-yellow on her charred and ripped uniform, but was startled by dull, indigo eyes looking up at him. He hadn’t expected her to be awake, let alone aware enough to make eye contact.

“Dorian.” Miel whispered, looking up to the mage. He jumped when an icy hand touched his arm. The girl was still looking directly at him.

“ _Sanu. Ri klau au ik_ . . .” Her voice was weak and slurred in a language Miel didn’t understand, definitely not elvhen, before she fell limp. Miel was only reminded he was staring when he heard Cullen’s commanding voice shout to the scouts:

“Get all of this back to Haven at once!” He and Leiliana had arrived a few minutes ago. Miel agreed, they needed time to figure out what all of this is. This woman definitely wasn’t an elf, at least not any elf he’d ever seen, but something had certainly happened.

Dorian gently lifted the stranger into his arms and followed Solas out of the crater as the rest of the scouts began collecting the debris. Miel sighed and looked to Cassandra and Leiliana. “Make sure the path for Solas and Dorian is clear. We don’t need the people of Haven making a fuss before we even know what’s happened. We don’t want to start any kind of panic.”

Leiliana nodded. “I will begin clearing a path,” she agreed. Cassandra nodding along with her.

“At least it’s not a demon.” Miel said with a small shrug. “That’s gotta be good, right?”

Cassandra sighed. “We may not think such things once she wakes.” The stern tone of her voice caused Miel to pause.

“Will she be a prisoner like I was?” Cassandra’s hesitation didn’t help his uneasiness. She finally shook her head.

“Not at this time. We will have to see when that time comes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The language Eryn speaks is Vulcan.  
> Sanu - Please  
> Ri klau au ik - "Do no harm to..." (the first part of a phrase by none other than Sarek the Vulcan). Basically meant to roughly be "I mean no harm". She's not in her right mind at this point which is why the funky language. I'm still trying to decide if I want to fiddle around with a language barrier between her and the Inquisition. Thoughts?
> 
> Miel's opinions of his companions are roughly based around my thoughts during my first play-through. Solas was just too damn shifty, man.


	4. More Questions Than Answers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cullen has no clue what's going on, Varric and Bull get to snoop, and Miel and Dorian are adorable!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for any OOC moments. I'm still new to writing fanfic and pre-established characters.
> 
> Thank you SO much for all the wonderful comments. It's really helped me keep up the courage to post this story. Comments, critiques, questions, and just overall chats are completely welcome!

What had started as a semi-normal day running through early morning drills with the Inquisition troops, had quickly escalated into a possibly hostile situation. Someone in a strange metal cage had fallen from the sky. Commander Cullen Rutherford of the Inquisition stood outside the gates of Haven, his hand resting on the pommel of his sword as he observed Rylen spar with a few other recruits. For the time being, he, Varric, and Bull were ensuring that life around Haven remained seemingly normal as Solas and Adan watched over the injured stranger and Leiliana investigated her identity. The last thing the people of Haven needed was something to panic about or another person to suspect of the Divine’s murder.

Cassandra caught his eye across the field and she motioned for him to follow her. With a quiet sigh he turned full authority over to Rylen and followed the Seeker into the Chantry and down to the lower level where they were keeping her safely hidden from prying eyes. The Herald Lavellan, Dorian, Blackwall, and Sera had left the afternoon after finding the stranger to close the few remaining rifts in the Hinterlands. It was the next day and he was expected to return later that day. Cullen followed her into the room where Solas, Adan, and Vivienne were standing around a small table lit solely by a few candles. In the far, dim corner on a cot was the green-skinned stranger.

Cullen could smell the poultices in the air as he looked to her. Thick bandages were wrapped around her chest and right forearm. Her leg was splinted, set and kept still so that the bone could heal properly. Her torso, being mostly covered in cloth bandage, was stripped of her strange clothing; without it, Cullen could see the metal of her left arm did not stop at her shoulder. Half of her shoulder was replaced and the metal went down farther on that side of her chest before disappearing under the bandages.

With the debris and dust cleaned off of her face and out of her hair, he could see the way the light hit her skin more clearly than he had in the early morning. The green tint was just as alien as her tightly-pointed ears and the strange language she had spoken. Black hair was brushed away from her face and Cullen couldn’t help but notice that her eyebrows sloped slightly towards her temples. He didn’t envy Adan’s job.

“Commander.” Solas’ voice brought Cullen out of his thoughts. It was only then that he realized he had been staring, though, the color on Cassandra’s face told him she had been looking as well. Cullen cleared his throat.

“Right,” Cullen put his hands behind his back and turned to join the discussion he had ultimately been invited to. “Any updates?”

The alchemist named Adan, whose skills were admittedly more geared towards apothecy than bedside manner, looked down at a few scribbly notes. “She has not stirred since being brought here, but her injuries are healing well. She had a broken bone in her leg, some scratches on her arms that cut down to the muscle, and there is a rather large gash in her side that Solas his helping me heal. We are hesitant to use magic in case she could possibly react poorly. Poultices seem to work well as substitute.”

“I have searched the fade, but have not found her presence.” Solas added. “I do not feel much, if any, of the fade within her. She does, however, have a very strong mind.”

Cassandra’s brow creased slightly, casting a glance at the patient before turning back. “Do we have any helpful information?”

Vivenne was the first to respond, which surprised Cullen just a little. “Every strand of information gathered only creates more questions. I have seen many different kinds of people across Thedas, but never one such as her. From her frame, I would guess elf, maybe half-elf, but her physiology is alien to me.” It was rare Vivienne didn’t have even a guess. Adan, however, seemed almost giddy when he spoke to them next.

“Her prosthetic arm is extraordinary. I have never seen a metal so strong yet able to hold so much detail. It’s incredible, replacing arm and ribs. It even has sensation! Touch the hand and it responds as if it could actually feel it.” Cullen could understand Adan’s excitement. Something like that . . . if he didn’t see it himself he probably would believe it at all.

Cullen also felt a nagging worry in the back of his mind. “Is it possible that magic is involved?” He’d never heard of any magic that could do that, but, he also had never heard of time magic either.

“Not from what I can tell.” Adan said, shaking his head.

Cassandra crossed her arms. “So we have discovered nothing. No origin, no identity, no motive.” She was exasperated. “What about the belongings? There was a whole bag of items.”

Solas leaned against his staff slightly. “We hardly know where to begin with the fabric of her clothing, let alone the objects in that,” he gestured to the bag lying under the cot. Untouched. “Perhaps Varric or the Iron Bull could use their observational techniques to better understand the contents.”

“Possibly.” Cullen said with a small nod. The Ben-Hassrath Qunari did have a knack for detail, and if anyone could identify the origin of an object, it would be Varric. “On my way back to the troops I will ask them.”

Cassandra nodded in agreement. “I will go see Josephine. She may have found something in her search.” Her tone carried of sense of finality.

Her words were the signal that the conversation had finished. Cullen spared a glance at the cot. She hadn’t moved, but she looked better than she had when he had caught the small glimpse of her the day before at the crash site.

After that moment, Cullen turned on his heel and left to find the Bull and Varric. This task was not difficult for him as Bull was sparring with one of his men, the young Tevinter Krem. ‘Sparring’ was generous as it was basically the young man slamming his shield into the massive Qunari as hard as he could. Varric was leaning against the wall off to the side with a grin.

The dwarf was the first to see him approach. “Curly! Come to watch the show?”

Bull growled slightly. “Come on, Krem. Put your back into it.” He barely moved as the Charger slammed into his torso.

Cullen sighed and rested his hand on his sword. “No. I actually came to speak with you and the Iron Bull about an important matter.”

Bull looked up with that, “Yea? Wanna go a round? Oof--!” Krem got a hit in while he was distracted and Bull laughed, rubbing the spot. “Yea, yea. Good move, Krem-de-la-kreme. Take a break now you.”

Cullen ignored the ensuing banter between the two and rubbed the back of his neck wearily. “You should sleep more, Curly. You’d feel better.” Varric quipped, crossing his arms.

“Too much work to do. Especially after yesterday.” Varric nodded and Bull finally turned his attention back to the Commander and the dwarf.

“So, what did you need there, Commander?” He flashed a toothy grin and put his large hands on his hips.

Cullen straightened his back. “We are trying to find anything about our . . . visitor. Solas and Adan are looking after her but we were thinking that her belongings may have something we can use. Could you two take a look?”

Varric grinned. “A chance to snoop through other people’s things and not get in trouble for it? How could I possibly say ‘no’ to that?” Cullen sighed. He could already see the mischief that would ensue from this, but at least they might be able to figure out something. They had thought about looking at the strange armor that had arrived along with the woman, but the risks of something worse happening wasn’t worth it.

“Alright. The bag is with Solas and Adan in the Chantry. Just . . . try to be discrete.” Cullen said softly, knowing he was probably wasting his breath. “We want to keep this quiet for as long as we can.”

“Ah, keep your britches out of your butt, Curly. We’ll be careful, right Tiny?” Varric winked as Bull let out a hearty belly laugh.

***

Later that evening the Herald returned from the Hinterlands with his team. Lavellan was riding on Dorian’s back, arms flung around his neck and legs hooked around his chest; Dorian was holding onto his thighs.

“Onward to the tavern!” Miel giggled, his right leg bandaged at the knee. Both mages bruised and roughed up from their time away.

Dorian chuckled as well, a large smile spread across his face. “You enjoy this far too much.” The mage stopped in front of Cullen on their way. “Hello, my dear Commander. Care to join two rascally mages for a drink?” His dark mustache quirked upward.

Cullen smiled at the spectacle. “I’m not sure it would be entirely appropriate.”

“Come on. Just three guys having drinks after a long stressful day.” Miel offered, resting his cheek against Dorian’s soft hair at the back of his head. “No Inquisition. No ‘Commander’.”

Dorian chuckled again. “I don’t think the Commander _can_ turn that part off.”

Cullen raised an eyebrow. “A drink sounds nice.” He rolled his shoulders and followed the two gallivanting mages. He wasn’t quite sure they weren’t already drunk. It was nice to see the Herald laugh, however.

The three men found a secluded table in the back and got some ale. Dorian, of course, assured them he’d had better, but he didn’t stop drinking what was in front of him. “Herald, how was--”

“Cullen.” Miel looked at him levelly over the rim of his tankard. “No Inquisition business.” and Cullen gave a small nod as conversation drifted between Dorian and Miel about childhoods and rather innocent things. He liked watching the two talk; they clicked somehow. Cullen was simply thankful for the break from paperwork.

The tavern was relatively calm until he heard that all-too-familiar voice.

“Curly! Fancy seeing you here.” He and Bull pulled up chairs and sat at the table. Bull dropped the grey duffle on the table in front of him. “We were starting to look through all this stuff.”

Cullen groaned, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “And the best place for all of that is here?”

“Where better? No one bothers us here. Not if they know what’s good for them.” Bull said warmly. “No safer place.”

“Uh huh . . .”

“Safe place for what?” Miel asked, his cheeks slightly pink.

Varric grinned. “We get to snoop through Greenie’s bag of goodies.”

“Greenie?” Dorian asked indignantly.

“What? I’m waiting til she’s actually _moving_ first, and calling her ‘the girl’ gets old.” Varric waved it off and opened the strange bag as Cullen sipped on his drink.

“Damn.” Bull muttered, an unreadable expression on his face as he and Varric began to set things on the table. Some were easy for them to somewhat identify. There was a neatly folded uniform matching the one she wore made of the same color and odd material. There was a small brooch that had a arrow head over a gold rectangle; this had been removed from her person by Adan. The rest of the objects were so odd that they couldn't quite identify them. They looked like strange hunks of metal or rock. They were cool to the touch but had small indents and holes that shifted when pressed. One made a strange noise when touched that lasted for a few moments and then left. Many of the objects looked to be made of some kind of silverite while there was another colored like obsidian. None of them looked like any sort of weapon or informational text.

Everything was packed and folded neatly. Militarily like Cullen’s life in the Templar Order had been. Unfortunately they couldn’t read any of the lettering.

Bull and Varric soon drunkenly hypothesized what objects might be and do. Perhaps tools or weapons. Maybe some kind of building equipment or magic relics. Whatever they were, they held _some_ kind of purpose and Cullen set to gently packing everything back up.

“She’s military, of some kind.” He saw the Herald stiffen.

“Templar?”

Cullen shook his head. He had wondered that at first as well. “No. I don’t see the insignia or any traces of lyrium.”

“But she works for _someone_.” Bull said with a slightly clear mind. “And just so happened to land at the Inquisitions doorstep? Suspicious.”

Lavellan started, drunk and a bit less controlled. “You think she’s a danger?”

“All the signs point to spy. Spy or agent.” Bull confirmed. “Once Adan’s given the ‘okay,’ I would take precautions.” He warned to Cullen, the least drunk of them all, so the most likely to remember once the night was over.

“She could just be lost.” Miel whispered, he had woken up in the dungeon-like basement of the chantry himself once. It wasn’t a kind fate and he didn’t like the idea of locking someone up without cause.

“In the Frostbacks? Unlikely.” Varric agreed.

“We’ll take precautions. Hopefully we can get answers soon.” Cullen muttered before jumping when Bull clapped a hand on his back.

“For now, we’ll drink!” He took a large swing, slammed his mug on the table, and called over his Chargers.

 

Answers came sooner than they expected. Early the next morning, everyone but Bull nursing a headache, a messenger ran up to Cullen. “Commander.”

“Yes?” He muttered, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Lady Cassandra asked you to come up to the Chantry immediately. The woman has woken up.”

Cullen was up the hill faster than ever before, soon followed by Lavellan and Bull. Cassandra and Solas met them outside the room. Cassandra had a stern scowl set on her face. “What is it?” Cullen asked. Had something happened already?

“The Seeker is simply impatient and aggravated.” Solas assured them. _He_ seemed far too calm for Cullen’s liking.

“Aggravated?” Cassandra said firmly, though the Commander noticed that both were keeping their voices rather low. “She awoke suddenly speaking a strange language. She couldn’t understand Adan’s assistant. I don’t like this, Commander. She can be nothing but trouble. We should be taking more protective measures.”

“Or she could simply not know Common, Cassandra.” Solas said, a bit of annoyance in his voice. “I was going to attempt Elvhen.” Cullen sighed before he turned to Bull.

“We’ll go in first and get a feel for the situation. I want you and Lavellan to wait out here in the hall for now. Bull, watch for any suspicious signs from her when you can.”

Bull nodded with a large grin. “On it.” Lavellan looked unsure.

“But if we can’t communicate . . .”

Solas looked to the Herald. “We’ll work it out, Da’len. Do not worry. I believe language barriers are the least of the Commander’s concerns at the moment.”


	5. Stranger in a Strange Land

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eryn is confused and everyone else is frustrated.  
> Slight trigger warning for body horror during the nightmare section at the beginning.  
> Reupload due to format edits. Content wasn't changed much; tilde's (~) are words omitted that Eryn can't understand.

            The air was stale, thick enough to choke on, and sour in her nose. Eryn could feel it in her lungs as the world spun around her in a dizzying array of shapes and colors. The floor rocked and she could barely see the red light flashing through the haze that surrounded her. The _red alert_ siren was wailing, a deafening sound that rang in her ears, rattled in her head, drowned out her thoughts. She was vaguely aware of the fact that she was laying on the ground, her head against hard plating. The engineering catwalk? She rubbed her head and sat up. The world spun faster and she felt ill. She stood and it got worse, needing the wall for support. The haze threatened to suffocate her, the heat was sweltering as she took stumbling steps. She was barely aware of faces in her vision, brief flashes of bubbling skin and choked screams. She tried to move faster, boots scraping against grating and echoing dimly in her ears.

            Soon her feet steadied and she was running, running through the engine room of a Miranda-class starship. It was empty. An area usually filled with fifty-some staff was completely vacant, all of them gone. She ran. _Why am I running? Why am I back here? The Ankara? Can’t be. Doesn’t look . . ._ She ran but the hallway never ended. It spanned on for what felt like forever, continuing to the point of ridiculousness. Gurgling screams tore at her flesh, images she couldn’t understand practically blinding any chance she had to move forward. Swirling, sickly green. Red monsters shooting across a grey sky, swords and battle and the smell of blood. The sour, metallic scent of blood. Her legs grew heavier until she couldn’t lift them fast enough to do more than walk. Her chest burned, like a fire had been started in her chest. The ship creaked and groaned. She could smell smoke. _Fire?_ Her step crunched. She looked down. She screamed; her boot had crushed a skull. She stumbled back and suddenly she was falling. A pit of black.

            She couldn’t see, but felt colder. A chill. Was she in space? No, she could still breathe. Her breath was wheezing slightly, but she was breathing. For a moment, she thought she would never land . . . she hit the ground with a thud. A thud that should have knocked her unconscious.

            A cold slab was beneath her, her head hanging off of it slightly. Wires pinched under her back, hard pieces of plastic and electricity. She could feel the buzz underneath her. Then, there it was: _Green_. The color surrounded her. It inhabited the walls, her skin, her every sense. If there was a color she found she hated any amount, it was green. A color that tormented her throughout childhood. That sent fear into her as the color pulsed above her in the open cube.

            _Intruder alert. Intruder alert_. The warning blared above her and she was in engineering again. At least, she was watching herself in engineering. Her vision had pulled back and she watched herself. Dead eyes. Heavy breathing. Blood chilling screams. The ground quaked. Still the ship? Then, the room exploded in a shower of metal and fire. It happened in slow motion. Metal, electricity, wires, and fire created a wall. It hit her with bone shattering force. She watched as her ribs shattered with the hit. Her lung collapsed as she fell. A cord was wrapped around her arm. Pulled. Muscle and tendon ripped away from her shoulder, from the very bone that connected her arm to her torso. Green blood pooled as she relived the pain. Could see each minute detail of the horror. Eryn watched the disaster she somehow survived as the hallway collapsed. Bile pooled at the back of her throat, she felt dizzy, she felt ill. Suddenly she couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t move, she couldn’t think. All there was was pain. Pain and the sticky, copper blood of her paternal genes.

            Then, she was falling. The black surrounded her, it had mass. It engulfed her in a cocoon and her chest burned. She was falling. She was sinking into the sticky darkness. It stuck to her skin, blinded her eyes. It filled her mouth, her nose, her ears. She was suffocating--

***

            Eryn woke taking a deep, gasping breath. She had the nastiest headache she had ever had in her life and her whole body ached. There was someone to her right. Human? She was talking but all Eryn heard was the ringing in her ears. _Red alert. Red alert. Red alert._ The woman grabbed her arm and Eryn pulled back instinctively with wide eyes. She flinched. The woman spoke again and her words were gibberish. Eryn’s brain hadn’t caught up with her. She felt infantile. She was practically drooling like a vegetable. Taking a closer look, she saw that the woman had large, pointed ears. She seemed to be saying something really important. Pity it made no sense.

            The woman sounded more frantic as she spoke rapidly and then left. Eryn welcomed the silence and waited for her senses to return. Maybe she had a concussion, would that explain why no one spoke right? She barely remembered crashing, but how she ended up under a mass of fur blankets half naked was a complete mystery. The first thing she did once she gained her senses was take in the fact that she was in dark room; a cell? She looked to where the door was and saw human-shaped shadows cast through the small window of the door.

            She closed her eyes once more, taking stock of her condition: stiff leg, possibly broken. No, freshly healed; her arms felt heavy, well arm; her chest ached just like in the dream; _don’t panic_ ; her head pounded; she felt ill: cold and discombobulated. The nightmare had done enough to her without all of this. Definitely a crash for the history books.

            With a groan, Eryn pushed herself into a sitting position and rubbed her head with her left hand. At least that one was working; fixing her prosthetic was a _bitch_. She felt the tug of a fresh wound on her side and the firmness of a splint on her leg. “Any crash you can walk away from . . .” she muttered, remembering that old adage from the academy. Linen bandages covered her chest and she instantly felt insecure about who had found her. She didn’t even know if the people of this planet were _human_. Not that she was human, but it was the principle of the thing. The woman seemed humanoid, so that was a good sign.

            Sitting up on the cot she saw her burned and torn jacket and undershirt were laid out on a chair. Biting back the pain she swung her legs over the edge of the cot and leaned over, grabbing for her jacket. She took stock of her pants and boots. They were in bad shape as well, but at least they were on.

“Fuck.” She scowled when she noticed her combadge and lieutenant pips were gone. Stacked beside the bed was a bundle of clothes containing a white shirt with long sleeves, some underclothes, and clean pants. Eryn decided to forgo dealing with her pants and simply getting the shirt on. The fabric was soft and thin but it would have to do for the time being. She ripped off the left sleeve and pulled it on gingerly - the delicate fabric would get caught in the joints of her arm. She winced as her side ached and arm still felt too stiff.

            She then became aware of the muttered voices on the other side of the door. She was sitting hunched over, elbows on her knees, when three strangers walked in. The metal door slammed shut. From the looks on their faces, they hadn’t expected her to be upright. A tall, bald man with long pointed ears was the first to enter. He was holding a large staff and wore clothing that looked like it was made of furs and rags and wearing a necklace made of . . . bone? He was staring at her suspiciously, almost animalistically, and seemed to be studying her. Beside him was a man with styled, blonde hair wearing a full set of antique, polished armor. A red fur mantle was wrapped around his shoulders and he had a large sword hanging at his hip. He looked slightly unsettled, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword. The third was a woman with short black hair and a prominent scar on her cheek that rivaled even Eryn’s. She also wore shined armor, but her sword was in her hand and pointed defensively in Eryn’s direction. She was scowling.

            _So . . . they look human and not at all friendly. Wonderful_. She thought with a bit of apprehension. She kept her elbows resting on her knees, holding her hands out in front of her to assure the three that she didn’t have any kind of weapon nor intention of resisting.

            The bald man asked a question, but his words were gibberish. They were probably trying to interrogate her since they were holding her at arm’s length and acting as if she would spew acid at them if they moved too quickly. Her confusion must have been plain on her face because he repeated his words but slower and he moved his mouth deliberately.

            _Wonderful time for the U.T. to be down_. She thought, never having wanted the universal translator so much before. The man was staring at her expectantly; he was waiting for a reply.

            “I’m sorry. I can’t understand you.” The confusion on his face made it evident that he didn’t understand either.

            The blonde man looked to the bald one, he seemed concerned. The bald man spoke to her again, but this time the language sounded a little different. He either switched languages or used a different form of whatever he was speaking. Either way, she couldn’t understand it.

            It was more gibberish to her. She shook her head. “I can’t. . .” The woman turned to the two men and she was speaking loudly now. She was angry and the two were obviously trying to placate her. How on Earth did these people get anything done if they couldn’t stop bickering. Even in complete gibberish it was annoying.

Eryn could only watch as they argued, trying to decipher words, anything to try and figure out if it was a language she had heard before. She vaguely recognized a few words, mostly names. The woman seemed to be named Cassandra, or some variation. The other words, however, made no sense. _A mind meld would be the fastest way to pick up the language. But  . . . no._ She sighed. That was something very personal and invasive. Doing that with a language barrier could pose problems. _Fuck._ Eryn looked up and her eyes met the blonde’s. He was looking at her. She straightened slightly, but he turned his gaze away and rubbed the back of his neck when he realized he had been caught.

            She groaned softly as the rougher language was spoken but remained meaningless to her. They were rolling through languages, or dialects. If she didn’t know which planet it was, there was no way she could speak the language. She was fluent in Starfleet Universal (most commonly referred to as English or Universal) as well as Vulcan. She knew a few pieces of Klingon thanks to Nakith and had a working vocabulary in Romulan - which was easy since it was close to Vulcan.

“What is the name of your language? Your name? Anything?” When she spoke the woman Cassandra seemed to notice something she recognized, she looked from Eryn to the bald man.

            Blondie and Baldie seemed to think about . . . whatever Cassandra had just said. After a moment, the Blonde rushed out the door.

            _Well that’s not ominous or anything._ She thought with a sigh before starting as she was addressed once more. Cassandra the warrior woman stalked to her side and restrained Eryn’s wrists with rope, giving her a firm look. It was a warning, a threat; she would be killed if she made any wrong movements. In the back of her mind, Eryn was a little glad that Nakith had chosen to _not_ be the one to engage the natives of the planet. The Klingon had a bit of a hard time taking orders, especially threats, from strangers.

The blonde man returned shortly through the heavy door with a creak and a few others stepped in behind him: a lithe redhead with the same pointed ears as the baldie and a blue-green facial tattoo, a darker skinned man with an obnoxiously curled mustache, and a behemoth of a man with grey skin, rough muscles, and horns that jutted out from the side of his head. Her eyes widened slightly with his appearance, taking in his scars and gruff appearance, her attention to which, he smirked before looking back to the Commander as he spoke in a hushed tone. She straightened her back as she realized what their purpose was. The new three were here for information, to them, she was a threat that needed to be sized up and judged, and in the pit of her stomach she knew that she couldn’t divulge too much information unless absolutely necessary. She suddenly wished for T’lek and his experience with away missions. The last time she had been planetside had been their holiday to Risa, and that trip hardly required a measured tongue and sharp tactical measures.

            Eryn didn’t realize she was drifting off into her thoughts until she was grabbed by the left arm and jostled by Cassandra. The mustached pretty-boy spoke to the rest of her captors. There was an air of importance about him, he must hold some sort of prestige, or at least he thought he held some kind of prestige. He had some kind of walking staff on his back, so did the bald man. They were arguing again, it seemed that happened quite a bit with this group and she had only been around them for less than a half hour.

The large, horned man laughed at whatever was said and then watched her once more. His single-eyed gaze was calculating and detailed, he was watching her every reaction and it was unsettling to say the least.

            “Do you speak Klingon? I know a few phrases in that.” Eryn asked, knowing that different empires had branched farther than Starfleet, perhaps the had already made first contact. _Oh god, were they under the Romulan Empire?_ While the language was similar to Vulcan, the Romulan empire was basically a group of biological cousins to the Vulcans. They rejected the idea of embracing logic and repressing emotions and maintained a more militaristic and warrior culture. Their xenophobic and racist ideals made them a dangerous enemy.

            The mustached man’s expression perked and he suddenly looked much more pleased. “~~~ You do speak the ~~~~.” Eryn let out a small sound. She speaks something alright, but at least this was something.

            “I didn’t catch all of that. But . . . can you understand me?”

            Cassandra was shocked but her tone sounded a bit more pleased than before as she spoke to the man. He, however, seemed rather irritated.

            The dark haired man looked back at her, seeming to examine her a little more thoroughly. “I suppose I am now the ~~~ ~~~ for the ~~ition. Dorian of ~~~ Pavus but ~~~ ~~~ to the ~~~ of Andraste.”

            Eryn’s eyes narrowed. “Your name is Dorian?” The only useful bit of information that she received. Dorian nodded with a small flourish.

            “Of course, ~~~~. Now, ~~~ ~~~ our ~~~ ~~~ loses her mind, what is your name?”

            She hesitated, knowing she had to be careful about what she said, especially since there were definitely gaps in their communication. “Eryn.”

            Dorian turned away from her and spoke to the severe woman. Eryn couldn’t be sure but she was pretty sure that her name wouldn’t be enough for the angry woman. It was a moment before Dorian turned back to her.

            “Eryn, ~~~ is Cassandra Pentaghast, ~~~, ~~~~ Cullen Rutherford, ~~~~ Miel Lavellan, the ~~~~ Solas, and the big ~~~ of ~~~ is The Iron Bull. You ~~~ ~~~ to arrive in the ~~~ of the ~~ition, a group of ~~~ to close the Breach and ~~~ with ~~~.” Dorian explained, though it made little sense outside of the introductions.

            “I’m sorry. I can’t understand half of what you say.” Eryn said simply. “Do you have my bag? I may have something that can help.” She saw his brow crease. Did he only get every other word from her too?

            “That can come ~~~ ~~~. First we need you ~~ ~~~ some ~~~ of our own.” Dorian considered her a moment, arms crossed. “Do you know how you got here?” She watched him speak. Simple words, pronouns, adverbs, prepositions, they were similar enough that she could catch on. It was more difficult terms such as verbs, some nouns, colloquialisms that translated between the two.

            “I know exactly how I got here and why. I do not know where _here_ is.” She hoped if she made her sentences simple he could understand them as well. Dorian spoke to the woman, Cassandra, again. Dorian grunted and looked quite annoyed with what she was demanding of him.

            He looked to Eryn. “Can you ~~~ if the sentence is simple? Cassandra ~~~ how you got here. Why are you here?”

            Eryn smiled when she noticed Dorian had figured out the connections as well. It wasn’t easy or the best way, but at least it was something. “A little better. I . . . how I got here is complicated. I’m here because of the anomaly in your sky. The . . . Breach?” Dorian again conveyed her words. “Dorian.” She waited until she had his attention. “My bag. I need my bag.”

            “That is ~~~ with our ~~~.” Dorian said. “Cassandra ~~~ more knowledge first.”

            “I can’t answer questions correctly if we can’t communicate.” She replied. “She won’t get any answers that can help her if we are dependent on articles and pronouns.” She winced as the ache in her side got stronger and she clutched it slightly.

            The one Dorian explained as The Iron Bull said, his deep voice startling her a moment. He spoke a language she didn’t understand. Since they all seemed to speak the same sounding language, it must be a form of a common tongue.

            Solas spoke as well, adding his opinion to the mix. Of course, it meant nothing. _No, no please. Go ahead and talk. It’s not like I have no idea what’s going on_. She sighed, rubbing her forehead with her metal arm. Damn it was cold! The one introduced as Miel nodded at what Solas had said. She noticed his gaze fall on her.

            Dorian spoke quickly to Miel before he stepped to Eryn and motioned to the cot under her.

            “You need rest.” He said simply.

            “What about--”

            “Rest.” Dorian said firmly and Eryn gave an indignant grunt as the others slowly filed out. A man with a dark goatee bustled in and seemed to have very firm words for her. _Definitely the doctor._ She thought as he forced her to lay down and checked bandages. He was prattling on in words that made no sense and smeared a sticky, smelly substance on her side. She hissed in discomfort but he didn’t stop.

            “Ow, hey!” She gasped. He seemed to say sorry but she couldn’t be sure if it was that or if he was calling her a wuss. After he was done he heaped heavy blankets back on her and left, the door locking shut behind him.

***

            A woman, the one with the pointed ears, had come in later that night. She had done something strange. The splint was taken off of her leg and when the nurse’s hands touched her leg there was a warmth that felt like fire. It faded quickly, she gave Eryn some broth-type food, and left. Whatever kind of medicine they had, it had healed her leg and allowed her to move around. She couldn’t find her bag anywhere and that pissed her off to no end. That and the fact that she smelled like the business end of a Klingon’s pet Targ.

            It wasn’t until what she could only assume was the next day, that the door opened and the hulking grey Iron Bull stepped in sideways to not hit his head. He was grinning at her a bit too cheerfully, or perhaps it was a mask for something more ominous. “Krem! This is our ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~, Eryn, was it?” His voice boomed loudly in the stone cell as a younger man in armor with deep brown hair followed after the horned man. She nodded. “Eryn, this is my ~~~ ~~~ Cremisius Aclassi. Krem for short.”

            “And Iron Bull, correct?” Eryn said cautiously.

            “Don’t forget the _The_. Very important. Krem here is a ~~~ too, so he can ~~~ you.”

            Krem, he looked rather young compared to the others she had seen, regarded her quickly. “~~~ look like a ~~~ ~~~.”

            “I’m not sure what that means.” Eryn was used to others keeping her at an arm’s length due to her parentage, but the looks of utter shock and fear she had elicited from the few people she’d encountered was new. Though, she had gawked at _The_ Iron Bull for quite some time, so she was one to talk.

            Bull chuckled. “~~~, someone from _Tevinter_.”

            “Is that a country?” She asked. “Where are we located right now? Do you know what galaxy you inhabit?” Eryn didn’t mean for it to happen, but the questions poured like a fountain out of her. From the look on Bull’s face, they had been the wrong ones to ask.

            “~~~ ~~~ on. Too many words I ~~~ ~~~ ~~~, not allowed ~~~ ~~~.” Bull said simply. He stepped towards her. Damn, he had to be at least seven feet tall. He tugged the ropes off her wrists. “Come on, the ~~~ has some good ~~~.” Bull turned and left the cell. Eryn stood stiffly.

            Her leg was stiff and sore and her side burned. She would have to take a look at it later. Krem remained beside her and she sighed. She wasn’t sure how long she had been out, but her body was protesting every movement. “You okay?” Krem asked. She gave a small nod, hoping that at least that meant the same thing here. Knowing her luck a nod could be a sign of offense. She picked up her discarded uniform jacket from the chair beside the cot and put it around her shoulders, just in case. Her pants were dirty and torn, but she didn’t really have anything for that at this point.

            Favoring her leg, Eryn followed Krem out the door. The Iron Bull looked her up and down for a moment.

            “That is _badass_.” He remarked, his gaze lingering on her exposed arm and she instantly felt more self-conscious than she had in a long time.

            “Uh, thanks.” She pulled the jacket over it a bit. “Kind of the effect I was going for.”

            Bull laughed before leading her out of the basement of the large opulent building. Women dressed in red and white robes littered the towering entryways. It was incredible. There were arched doorways and the largest stained glass window she had _ever_ seen. There was a scene of an ethereal woman painted across a golden sky with arms held wide.

            “Whoa.” She breathed, pale violet eyes wide as saucers as she tried to take it all in. The faint smell of candle wax lingering in the air. She’d never experienced such a natural sensation. Then she noticed the utter silence and realized all eyes were on her. Some wide in shock, others narrowed in disgust. There were whispers she couldn’t understand and a gorgeous woman with perfectly clear, dark skin and gravity defying breasts was talking to the Iron Bull.

            Eryn pulled the jacket around both shoulders; she felt like she was being observed under a microscope. Bull’s tone sounded stern but respectful as Krem put a hand on Eryn’s shoulder.

            “Follow me, the ~~~ ~~~ up.” He lead her out of the gigantic wooden doors. The fresh air hit her in a wave, the whole area surrounded by trees and snowy mountains. People milled around all over, some in tents circling fires, others near wooden cabins. The distant scrape of metal-against-metal met with whinnying horses seemed to go on for miles.

            Eryn gawked as Krem led her to the tavern, she painfully aware of the attention turned on her in every direction. Krem shuffled her to a corner out of prying eyes and left to go get some food. She sighed, pressing her forehead into her palms, feeling the sharp ache in her side. “Shit.” she breathed, the dull roar of pub conversation merely white noise, like the hum of engineering.

            A plate of amazing smelling food slid to her. “Hope it’s to your ~~~.” Krem said, Eryn snorted slightly.

            “I’ve been on ration-packs for six months. Real, unreplicated food is like gold latinum.” She took a bite of meat as Krem stared at her. She knew he probably didn’t understand a word she said, but neither did she with him.

            Krem and Eryn remained relatively silent, but it wasn’t long before Bull walked up to the table with a grin. “~~~ your ~~~ love ~~~?” Krem teased with a laugh and Bull’s face twisted.

            “~~~ simply had ~~~ ~~~ about our ~~~. How’s it goin’?”

            It took Eryn a moment to realize that he was addressing her and she looked up from the meal she was inspecting while eating. “Hm? I’m alright. Thank you for the food.”

            Bull grinned. “The ~~~, Dorian, Cassandra, and the ~~~ are out on a ~~~ ~~~ run. Later today ~~~ ~~~ back and they want ~~~ ~~~with you.” Eryn gave him a confused look.

            “What about my bag? This will be much easier if I have something from my bag.”

            “They ~~~ ~~~ you to have weapons.”

            “It’s not a weapon. It’s . . . it’s hard to explain. It will help me communicate.”

            Krem looked to the Bull and said something that  Bull seemed to consider.

            “I’ll have ~~~ it up to the ~~~.” Eryn groaned and pushed her head into her hands again.

            Her head was starting to hurt worse than it had before. How on earth was this supposed to work if they couldn’t even get two sentences to make sense? They obviously thought she did something wrong, but she didn’t really have the words to explain herself. She didn’t want to let out too much information in case it would just make things worse. If only she could get in contact with the _Godavari_. Maybe then they’d be able to do something other than this annoying back and forth.

            A hand clapped on her metal shoulder and she jumped, the Bull’s hand was larger than her entire face! “Come on. Let’s ~~~ you the ~~~.”

            “~~~, didn’t Cassandra say--”

            “Oh ~~~ the ~~~. This is more fun.” Without any more explanation The Iron Bull ushered her out of the tavern and down another snowy path.


	6. The Alien in Haven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eryn sees more of Haven and tries to play nice with the locals. Chancellor Roderick, however, decided to snoop and cause more trouble for our dear engineer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Vocabulary:  
> bat'leth: Resembling a crescent-shaped, two-ended scimitar, the bat'leth was wielded using three handholds along the outside edge of the blade; the bat'leth, or "sword of honor", was a traditional Klingon blade weapon.  
> holodeck: a fictional virtual reality facility often used for recreational activities. The holodeck is often used to recreate familiar places, participate in interactive stories, and to practice a variety of sports and skills.  
> phaser: a typical hand-held directed-energy weapon.

“Honestly, Frosty, how much elfroot do we need?” Varric grumbled as they trudged around the outskirts of Haven and the Frostbacks. It was a really simple supply run for requisitions and basic supplies they would need before they moved to close the Breach. “We go on much longer and it’ll be growing right out your ears.”

Miel grinned as he walked beside Dorian, leading the way to collect iron, elfroot, and the like. “It’s useful for a lot of things, Varric. Adan loves to have a supply and so do I. You can never really have too much.”

Dorian sighed. “Well, do we have enough for now? It’s freezing.”

“You could wear sleeves, Sparkler.”

Miel sighed, shaking his head as he chuckled at the two of them. He loved his companions, especially his main party. Cassandra, however, seemed slightly more quiet than normal. “Cass, do you think we have enough iron for Harritt?”

“Yes. I believe we have an acceptable amount.” Cass said, pausing a moment before she said. “Herald, a word?”

“Of course, Cass.”

“I do not mean to question your judgment, but as an advisor, I have to object to the treatment of the . . .”

“Eryn.”

Cassandra sighed heavily. “Yes, her. I . . . Herald, I don’t trust this situation. Everything is too convenient, or inconvenient. We have not yet determined that she is not a threat.”

“ _ Fasta vass _ . . . not this again.” Dorian grumbled.

“You may be willing to blindly trust the words of a stranger, but I will not forget the real threats at hand.” Cassandra said sharply. “Demons have been emerging from the fade since the conclave was destroyed. Is it really so outrageous to be cautious so close to when we are to be closing the Breach?”

Miel hesitated. He could see the logic in her words, no matter how much he didn’t like the reality of it. That, however, didn’t help matters at all. He’d had the weight of every decision on his shoulders since he’d woken in the Chantry dungeon; he hated it. “I understand, Cass, but I am also keeping the possibility open that she is simply really, really lost. I just don’t feel right locking someone up like a prisoner based on nothing but fear and suspicion.” He stooped to pick more elfroot. “Besides, I trust Bull’s judgment. If there’s any funny business I’m sure he’ll notice. If not him, then the Commander.”

Cassandra nodded, though still didn’t seem pleased with the possibilities that could arise, she, however, didn’t voice any objection. “Good. Now that that’s out of the way, let us continue so we can get back to Haven.” Dorian muttered and Miel grinned, catching up to his friend and nudging him playfully. 

“Come on, just a few more, Dorian.”

***

Iron Bull and Krem led Eryn around Haven, showing her the Tavern, all around the Chantry, Dennett’s horses, Harritt’s smith shop, and they ended with Cullen’s troops training outside the main gates. The language barrier was frustrating, the dialect of Tevene she spoke was much more complex than anything used in the current age. Krem believed it may be a form of Ancient Teven no longer used outside of the academy. Of course, they couldn’t be sure since the girl had no idea what the hell Tevene or Tevinter was. One thing that did seem surprising to Bull was her apparent interest in the military operations. Perhaps it was the fact that combat was more universal than speech.

The green-skinned-girl was leaning against a large boulder, arms crossed as she watched the troops’ movements. Damn that arm was badass, he wanted to learn more, but also didn’t. There was something odd about her, and Cassandra’s first warnings of demonic possession didn’t help. He wouldn’t admit it outright, but the idea of that scared the shit out of him.

Cullen, with the ever present stick-up-his-ass, scowled. “You’re in battle, not dancing! Keep your stance firm! They’ll knock you on your feet the first chance they’ve got.”

Bull caught the exact moment that a growing idea passed through Eryn’s eyes. She pushed herself off the boulder and walked over to a pile of discarded supplies near Dennett’s horses. She picked up a broom, testing the weight in her hand. Bull raised a brow towards her and watched as she returned to her spot, broom in hand. She watched with a critical eye before she stepped towards one of the soldiers Cullen had been trying to teach. The damn soldier was too cocky, he had an ego that left him not open to being taught by the Commander. Was she really going to spar against the cocky bastard while healing? With a  _ broom _ ? That took balls. Cullen also noticed.

“Hey, hey what are you --- what is she doing?”

Bull shrugged. “How should I know, Commander?”

Cullen growled slightly. “ _ You _ can talk to her.” Eryn rolled her eyes at him.

“ _ I’m ---- this ---- how to stand. _ ” She said.

Bull gave a deep belly laugh. “Not one hundred percent sure, but I think she wants to correct this guy’s attitude.” Cullen’s face purpled slightly as Eryn spread her feet a shoulder’s width apart. Good form for someone Bull hadn’t thought to be a hand-to-hand fighter.

The recruit looked slightly amused and annoyed, looking between the petite girl and his Commander for aide. Cullen pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, motioning for the man to go ahead and fight the girl with green skin and short black hair around pointed ears. Not elven, he’d never seen an elf like her. Bull laughed, crossing his arms as Krem and Stitches wandered up to view the growing spectacle. Bull could clearly see that the man’s stance was weaker, even his hold was sloppy. He was making one of the classic rookie mistakes: underestimating his opponent. He wasn’t sure  _ what _ kind of fighter Eryn was, but Bull was pretty sure that that metal arm didn’t come from some random gardening accident.

Eryn scowled at the man, casting an obvious look at his feet and his grip. Without any warning, her foot shifted and she swung the broom at his knees, knocking him backwards. Krem and Stitches made no move the hide their laughter as the Templar’s eyes nearly popped out of his skull. “What--”

“ _ Oh come on. You can do better than that. _ ” Eryn sighed, she looked just about as amused about the situation as Cullen did. When he didn’t move, Eryn rolled her eyes and made a ‘come at me’ motion with her hand. A crowd was starting to gether now to watch the stranger and the soldier fight. With more determination, and a stubborn look in his eye, the man stood and readied himself a little better, Eryn blocking a swing from him with the edge of the broomstick, sliding it off the blade in a fluid motion. She dodged another swing, the man getting more angry than strategic now. 

She wasn’t holding the broom like you would a staff. She was holding it in both hands, slightly horizontal but with a slight angle to her wrists. She was utilizing both ends equally. He would have to ask her about that technique when he could. Eryn’s feet shifted on the snow, the brush of the broom hitting against the tip of the blade while the other end smacked the grip, dislodging it from his grip. With a small spin she knocked the broom into his lower back, knocking him forward and scooping it to the base of his throat, not quite making contact with his neck as she straddled his back, forcing him against the snow.

“ _ If I can do this with a ----, you need to get your head out of your --- _ .” She released her grip, letting the broom fall to the ground and she stood, wiping snow off of her pants.

Cullen ordered training to resume, even if the soldier’s pride was bruised. The Commander then walked up to Eryn, his stare hard as he crossed his arms across his chestplate. “What was that?”

Bull stood back, letting her try. He and Krem had been slowly introducing Common to her, but it had only been a day. However, from the look on her face, she got the gist. Eryn copied his stance, Bull noticing the slight pinch to her face. Her side must still be pretty sore, oh Adan would be pissed.

“ _ It was a ---. _ ” Eryn said, sighing as she searched her extremely limited vocabulary, punctuating her words with hand signs. “ _ I won. He lost. That’s bad. _ ”

Bull chuckled. “She was proving a point. He was a cocky bastard.”

Cullen scowled. “I got that, thanks.”

Eryn rolled her eyes again. “ _ If you’re not --- they’ll --- --- that way _ .” Bull chided in warning to which Eryn raised her hand and brandished her middle finger.

Eryn looked about ready to say something else, violet eyes glittering, before her attention was torn away from Bull and Cullen. In that moment, she ran towards the back of Harritt’s shop and, for a split second, Bull thought she was making a poorly timed escape. Then, he saw her goal. The strange armor she had arrived in was stored behind the shop for both mages and the smith to look at more closely.

She tore off the old sheet covering the object and her face instantly set into a hard stare as Bull came up behind her.

“ _ Bohl--- is going to kill me. _ ” He heard her mutter. He watched as she inspected what looked like a hunk of metal. She pulled on a piece and it opened like a box, revealing more oddities inside. Her brow was pinched in a mixture of concentration and frustration, worrying her lower lip with her teeth.

Cullen came up beside him after a moment. “What is she doing?”

“Looks to be checking out the damage.” Bull mused, watching as Eryn pushed up her right sleeve and dug inside it. So many questions ran through Bull’s head about the object. What did it do? Why had she been inside it? What were all the pieces for? What did they do? Even if he couldn’t convey his questions, she wouldn’t be able to answer them fully. Every step forward they made in trying to understand her only resulted in more complicated questions.

***

Eryn had enjoyed beating that cocky shit more than she would readily admit. Her time sparring in the holodeck with Nakith really had paid off - though a broom was nothing like a bat’leth. The blonde Commander had been pissed, and she understood that. She had stepped in to prove a few specific points, however. 1) The guy - no matter how confident - was ill-prepared and would be killed in any kind of fight. 2) She can and will defend herself if needed. 3) She isn’t here to be a threat. She hadn’t really harmed the man aside from bruising his pride. If she’d wanted to, she could have done worse.

Then she had seen it, the glitter of light off bent metal and the remnants of  _  ‘v’ ‘a’ ‘r’ ‘i’ _ . The pod. She ran. Why? She couldn’t tell you exactly. All she knew was that it was something familiar, something to keep her hands busy, something that was completely destroyed.

“Shit. Bohlran is going to kill me.” She muttered with a scowl. The hull was trashed, computer systems fried, and the engine had overheated once malfunctions had set in. The pod would be good for nothing more than spare parts. She opened an access panel and found melted wire and crunched circuits. Maybe,  _ maybe _ , with the right tools and enough time she could get communications back up, but she hadn’t been at all prepared to lose control of the pod as quickly as she had. She expected to have some sort of malfunction, but it was almost instantaneous. Whatever that Breach was, it didn’t like technology.

She was aware that The Iron Bull and Cullen had followed after her, staring. Everyone was staring. They had been since she woke up and maybe, probably, before then. Eryn closed the panel and leaned against the warped hull, letting her fingers trace over what was left of the ship’s name on the pod. God she hoped the  _ Godavari _ was . . . her blood ran cold. What if they had crashed too? What if they needed help or they di--

“The Iron Bull. Do you have telescopes?”

He looked confused and she sighed. 

“An . . . object. You put it to your eye to see something far away.” She mimicked the action and he nodded. Cullen looked perturbed as the horned man disappeared into the blacksmith shop and returned moments later. It was rudimentary and meant for ocean vessels, but it would have to do. 

Eryn walked out to an area near a frozen lake - past the training area - and looked up at the sky. The Breach was like a bruise against the dark clouds. Hopefully the  _ Godavari _ had stayed in orbit. They may be out of her sight for the moment, but at least . . .

The Commander was arguing with The Iron Bull. He sounded more frustrated than anything else. Eryn continued to scan the sky for any trace of the ship. The poor quality of the scope didn’t help matters. It was like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Bull finally spoke. “What are you --- --- for?”

She didn’t respond. She didn’t realize she was holding her breath until she spotted a shadow to the . . . south? . . . and let out a huge sigh. It could not be the ‘ _ Vari _ , but she wasn’t going to let herself think of that.

“Nothing just . . . reassurance.” She finally answered before something hit her leg. A  _ creature _ hit her leg. A naked rabbit-type thing ran over her feet and she startled back with a small squeak, gripping the telescope tighter.

The Iron Bull was  _ laughing _ and even the Commander was hiding a chuckle behind a gloved hand. “Come on, now Just a ---  _ nug _ .”

‘Nug.’ Ew. She had never really been fond of the idea of keeping small rodents as pets, but this was a wild creature. What the  _ hell  _ kind of purpose could that serve in nature anyway? She watched as the thing bounded away. Eryn jumped as Bull gave her a heavy pat on the back, a jolt of pain along with it.

“I’ll have Krem --- one o’them for you ---. He --- nugs with ---!”

She wasn’t entirely sure what that meant, but she straightened her back and realized Cullen was heading back to his post. Bull summoned her forward.

“Come on. The  _ Herald _ will be coming back with -- --- soon and she --- like you --- out here.”

Of the few words in their colloquial language Bull had introduced her to was the information that the  _ elf _ named Lavellan was called the  _ Herald of Andraste _ , some sacred deity important to some, but not Bull’s, beliefs. There was  _ magic _ here - he insisted it was not a superstition - and the people gathered in  _ Haven _ were forming an  _ Inquisition _ . All familiar concepts but so foreign, as well as creating a dilemma of just how much about herself she could divulge or how much she could assist if necessary. Already her presence could be causing harm.

Bull led her back towards the  _ Chantry _ where a crowd was forming around the front doors. A man in red and white religious wear was shouting and waving his arms like some kind of madman. Whatever it had been about before they arrived, however, was moot. The instant the hysterical man saw her he pointed a gnarly finger at her and his face purpled from how fast he was talking and how little he was actually inhaling.

Eryn’s hand instinctively went to where her phaser usually hung and she stiffened.  _ Dammit. This mob is rabid _ , she thought. Bull put a massive hand in front of her and moved to grab the gigantic hammer on his back. He didn’t actually hold it, but it was obviously a threat. The man, however, didn’t back down.

The mob around him looked conflicted. Some seemed to be trying to calm him down while others got more and more riled up. The hysteric kept pointing and glaring at Eryn, stepping closer but stopped by the gigantic  _ wall _ that was The Iron Bull.

“--- --- you are ---- by a --- demon.” Bull said curtly before turning his attention back to the threat.

“What the  _ fuck _ does that mean?!” Eryn was officially very lost. Demon? Like a devil or some shit? She’d been called a lot of things in her lifetime, but demon was never one of them.

Cullen and a few of his soldiers eventually ran up to try and subdue the man and defuse the situation, but the man was waving his fist around and yelling about something angrily. He looked rather sure of whatever had him all up in a tizzy. As he was pulled back from the Chantry entrance, Eryn’s blood boiled at the realization of what he held in his hands. She didn’t know how he had done it, but he had  _ phaser _ in his grubby paws. Her phaser that, she could see, was turned on. Whether it actually would shoot or not, whether it was set to stun or kill, she didn’t know, but she couldn’t risk that the old coot wouldn’t do something stupid. So instead, she did something stupid.

Rushing past Bull into the fray, Eryn ran at the man held between two men in armor. His eyes had widened and then narrowed into angry slits. He was yelling more gibberish at her. “Give it to me!” She said firmly, holding out her hand. Cullen was keeping watch along with Bull - whom she heard swear about something. Had he seen her bag’s contents before? “You  _ idiot _ , give it to me!”

In a fit of anger he pulled his hand free and pointed her phaser directly at Eryn. She stiffened. She looked back at Bull to see if he could help.

“He’s asking what it is.”

“Oh  _ ponfo meran _ .” She muttered the Vulcan swear and clenched her fists. The man flinched and she - not really thinking - tackled the man to the ground. She grappled with him to try and get the phaser while Cullen tried to keep a crowd at bay. The man hit her side and she kneed his gut before yanking the thing from his grip. She fumbled, trying to keep him away from her and the weapon as she checked the settings. It had been set to kill and it was buzzing, it could possibly go off. She fiddled with the thing quickly to try and disarm it. She was vaguely aware of the scrape of metal near her. Swords were being drawn as the man squealed. As Eryn moved to get off of him slowly, he lashed out with a quickness he hadn’t expected and grabbed for the phaser. She tried to hold it away from him but the hysteric was taller than her and hit the ‘fire’ button. “Shit, no!” Eryn shouted as a concentrated phaser beam shot out and crashed into one of the stone walls. The beam, even set to stun, crumbled a few of the stones and collapsed a section of it.

Eryn glared, not able to stop her anger at the idiotic man. Honestly, how stupid could someone be?! She furiously worked to turn off the thing as yelling ensued. She was sure she was being blamed for the damage. Probably calling it “witchcraft” or something. It was a moment later that there was a flash of red. A sharp pain hit the back of her head and her vision blurred before going completely black.


	7. In Your Heart Shall Burn (Part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alternative Title: Well . . . this sucks
> 
> Miel closes the Breach and Eryn finally gains some ground.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Lots of Star Trek not-science in this piece

The Qunari caught Eryn as she fell limp, Cullen moving swiftly to apprehend Roderick after he bashed her on the head. “See? Look at what that did! She destroyed the conclave! She killed the Divine!”

“Rylen, get him out of here.” Cullen ordered, shoulders tense and drawn tight. His hand clenched on his sword as his men helped get the crowd to scatter. He looked to Bull. “How is she?” The girl hanging in Bull’s large arms.

“No damage, just enough to  _ really _ hurt when she wakes up.” Bull replied, looking down at the object Eryn had wrestled from the Chancellor. A small think that  _ destroyed _ part of Haven’s meager defenses. 

“Good, get her back in the chantry, look her in the room under guard, then I want you to come to the war room.” Cullen ordered, turning to grab Leiliana and Josephine.

Word of the conflict between the Chancellor and the stranger was spreading fast, almost immediately after it had been stopped. They didn’t have time to wait for Lavellan before a mob could start. Whatever that . . . thing was, it definitely didn’t help Eryn’s case. Leiliana, Josephine, and The Iron Bull joined Cullen in the war room. He wasn’t surprised that both women knew of the incident.

“We need to take precautions, Commander.” Leiliana said firmly. “Whether she is guilty or not, locking her below the Chantry would be the safest option for both parties.”

“The kid doesn’t have the knowledge to pull that thing off. Maybe an accomplice, but not the mastermind.” Bull retorted, crossing his arms.

“She could have been lying.” Leiliana said.

Bull snorted. “To a Ben-Hassrath? Not likely.” He chuckled at the mere thought. “No. Something else is going on.”

Josephine looked up from her clipboard. “Whatever it is, the display outside has sealed her fate. Word has only begun to spread around Haven of the power displayed.

“Roderick was looking for a fight. He was ranting about demons and corruption all over again.” Cullen said evenly. “The Chancellor is known for jumping to conclusions. She looked concerned when she saw he had that weapon.”

“Well yea, he pointed it at her damn face!” Bull said.

“Either way,” attention turned back to Josephine. “The reality no longer matters. The people of Haven will soon believe that Eryn was the one who destroyed the Conclave. Her appearance and the mystery behind her identity doesn’t help matters. Her fate is decided. The only thing we can do is decide how to keep her safe or not.”

Leliana glowered at the map on the war table. “We will be moving to close the Breach soon. Hopefully if Solas’ predictions are correct, it will work. But we need to find out the truth. That takes time we do not have.”

Cullen glared, hands clenching as he mulled over the situation. He knew Leiliana and Josephine were right, the evidence was pretty clear, they were dealing with something they didn’t fully understand. But he had also seen her when Roderick shouted towards her. Annoyance, confusion, and fear. He knew as well as Bull that Roderick had set the weapon off somehow, but people saw what they wanted and what they wanted was someone to blame. First it was Lavellan, now it was her. And she didn’t have a magic hand that could close rifts.”

Cullen sighed, leaning heavily on the war table. “Lock her downstairs. We’ll confer with the Herald when he returns and take Eryn with us to close the Breach. If she tries to stop us, she’s guilty, if not, she’s safe. Not foolproof, but the best we can do.” Leiliana frowned. “We can see if Cassandra or Lavellan have any better ideas, but for now, we have no other choice.”

“Sound idea, but my Chargers will guard the door. No offense, Commander, but your guys seem too skittish around this kind of stuff.” Bull said to which Cullen nodded in agreement.

“Alright, I’ll try to help calm people down. Josephine, could you help with any nobles?” He asked.

“Of course, Commander. I will get on that right away.”

“Good.” Cullen nodded and huffed slightly. “And . . . I’ll find some way to fix that wall.”

***

Eryn woke once again with an aching head and a dry feeling in her mouth. “Shit.” She groaned, her body aching. Opening her eyes she understood why; she was in a dark, musty cell with a drippy ceiling and a cold stone floor. Bars covered the large wooden doorway and the only light came from a few candles on the wall and some out in the hall. She winced, trying to rub her forehead but was startled when it met resistance. “Wha--” Shackles encapsulated both her wrists and she stiffened ever so slightly.

She was guarded by people she had not seen before, though they didn’t seem to register her movements. It was a bit of a struggle to push herself into a sitting position. “Hey . . . excuse me. Can you understand me?”

A blonde woman with hair half-shaved on one side and the same pointed ears Solas had turned and spouted gibberish. That answered her question. She growled slightly. Sure, that asshole is the idiot and she gets thrown in a cell. Her side no longer ached, so someone must have helped like they had before.

The last time she had been locked up like this had been at Starfleet Academy during a training exercise, and those cuffs had had emergency releases. They were running a mission to test a team’s recon ability and their stealth and she, picking the short straw, had been the victim. It reminded her of the few things she knew about her mother, an orion slave girl that used her womanly wiles and abilities to literally drive men crazy and become lustful slaves. She knew practically nothing about her mother or anything that she may have done, but she liked to think she was beautiful and smart. Her father may have known her better, but where he was or whether he was alive or not Eryn had no clue.

A loud clang startled her out of her thoughts and the door swung open. She hoped it was Krem, or The Iron Bull, but instead it was the glowering stare of Cassandra that she saw.  _ Great _ .

Without a word, she yanked Eryn up by the rod holding the cuffs together, unlocking them she replaced them with a rope tied tightly to each wrist. With a harsh tug, Eryn was pulled out of the Chantry and into the middle of a large crowd of people.

“Hey, what’s going on--?” Eryn stopped, not because she knew it was pointless, but because of the murderous, hateful looks she was receiving. It made her go quiet instantly as she had never  _ actually _ had someone look at her like they would kill her if not for Cassandra. 

The woman pulled Eryn through the crowd to the front of where she saw Dorian and the man named Lavellan along with many of the others she had seen on her tour with Bull. They were all part of a group heading outside of Haven. Lavellan had the front with Dorian and Bull beside him. Krem and a few others that matched his gait walked behind Bull while Cullen walked in front of his soldiers. All held serious expressions, a look she had seen in many commanding officers she had had. Something serious was going on and, despite her best efforts, no one would answer her questions.

There was a literal army behind them, people dressed in heavy-looking robes and long, ornate staves. There were also a few men in full armor like the kind the Commander wore. She felt severely underdressed for the occasion.

They trudged only a short distance until arriving at a place that smelled of burning flesh and soot. Bodies were frozen in place in fiery death, a gigantic building reduced to rubble. There was a strange red stone growing from the ground like a plant and directly in the center, was a massive green swirl that matched the Breach above it in the sky.

“My god--”

Lavellan moved towards the smaller Breach flanked by the robed people. Eryn was pulled back by a large hand that belonged to Bull; consciously aware of the arrows trained on her. Her attention, however, was quickly returned to the action in the center of the ruins as Lavellan raised his left hand that bore a glowing green slash across the palm. The army of people behind him raised their staffs.

The Commander said something towards them - Bull offering no translation of anything - before a burst of energy emanated from the copper haired man as well as the staffs, all focusing on the Breach. Everyone was tense, the sour smell of ozone in the air, as in a flash of blinding light, and a pulse strong enough to knock those down close enough. The Breach closed up as if it had been pulled closed with a string.

Dorian helped Lavellan to his feet, and cheers erupted as Eryn simply felt a bit shocked and confused about what the hell had just happened. She didn’t get the time to ask as Bull yanked her arm and he and his Chargers led the party back towards Haven.

Eryn didn’t realize the change at first, but as they walked back, the mood lighter and happier, she realized words were starting to emerge in other people's’ speech.

“---- --- --- --- you did ---- --- --- me.”

“Did you --- --- --- --? They --- --”

“Can’t --- it ---! You were --- --- out ---.”

The Breach closing must have stopped the disruption causing the U.T. to malfunction. When her prosthetic was put in, she had had a Universal Translator attached, one with the faster capabilities like ship systems contained. It made sense to have one in case her combadge or tricorder malfunctioned or broke. Man was she grateful for that. She didn’t speak as they returned, slowly listening as the device picked up the language and grammatical structures. It took a moment, but the technology was pretty advanced and efficient. The only problem was local colloquialisms or turns-of-phrase that didn’t translate to Universal. Those - Klingon had many - were left out since translation usually wasn’t necessary or correct.

“I am so glad you are alright, Herald.” Solas said to Lavellan once they reached Haven. Many people were talking at once, celebrating and cheering. Some dancing while others opened what smelled like alcohol. She, however, was pushed into a tent, Krem coming in with a look of warning and releasing the ropes on her wrists.

“Stay here.” He said simply before he stepped out, but she could see his shadow at the other end of the flap. He was standing guard.

“ . . . this proves nothing.” Cassandra’s voice was clear. They were standing outside the tent, obviously not worrying about being overheard by her.

“There’s no proof she was connected to the Breach, Cassandra. We have to tell her something.” The Commander was irritated.

Bull’s voice came next. Eryn had never been so happy to have full sentences spoken that she could fully understand so much. “I watched her, Seeker, she looked more confused and startled than anything. No way she could have faked all of it.”

“She is still a threat.” This voice she didn’t recognize. “These objects she carries obviously hold a purpose. Just because she did not try to stop us does not mean she is not in contact with this ‘Elder One’ the Herald saw in the future.”

“Leiliana, there has to be a way to talk this out.” This voice Eryn barely recognized as Lavellan - or Miel as Dorian seemed to have been calling him on the way back.

“Unless you know someone who can understand her there isn’t a way.” Leiliana answered - the same voice from before.

“We can’t just lock her up because of something Roderick did to try and instill fear.” Miel’s voice was calm but authoritative. She was beginning to like him. “There has to be something, someone, that can help. She hasn’t done  _ anything _ to try and threaten me or the Inquisition.”

“While that may be we--” Cassandra went silent when a muffled crackling could be heard. Eryn straightened and heard a slight rustling.

“Maker, what--” Cullen didn’t continue as a voice Eryn knew all too well suddenly spoke.

_ “--Communications back on line. Godavari to Lieutenant Dawson. Communications back on line. Do you copy?” _

Eryn wanted to cry as she heard Bohlran’s voice through what could only be her combadge. No one outside spoke, probably shocked into silence. From the way they reacted to all other things surrounding her she wasn’t surprised.

_ “Lieutenant Verrynsaar Dawson, this is the Godavari, do you read me?” _

Still no one moved. Eryn stood, scared they might destroy her only chance of communication with the ship. Rashly, and without any real thought, she exited the tent. All eyes fell on her. Her combadge was in Cassandra’s grip, luckily undamaged as of yet. The red haired woman (Leiliana?) reached for a dagger at her side.

_ “Eryn Dawson so help me if you are dead I will kick your ass.” _

Eryn let out a slow breath. “Give it to me.” She held out her hand and allowed a small quirk of her lip to show at the sheer shock that overcame them all.

“How--?”

“I’ll explain. I promise. Please.” Eryn said to Cassandra, who looked at Bull before hesitantly passing the object.

Eryn tapped it. “Eryn here.”

_ “Son of a bitch!” _

“Love you too, Bohl.”

_ “Don’t you do that again! Did you  _ see _ what happened?! The anomaly--” _

“Yes. I saw. It’s . . . there’s a lot going on, Bohl. How’s my baby?”

_ “The ship’s fine. Can’t say the same for the pod.” _

Eryn sighed. “Hey, if you didn’t want it crashed you shouldn’t have sent me you blue--.” Eryn saw the looks Cassandra, Lavellan, and Cullen were all boring into her.

_ “Are you okay? Where are you?” _

“In the middle of it. Just gained the UT back and have the people here look at me like I just popped a third eye. Do we have transporter capabilities?”

_ “Negative. Basic systems. The anomaly seems to have dissipated, but I think it pulled the wormhole close to the planet. There’s still interference.” _

“Yea, good uh . . . Bohl . . . I should probably get off and explain--”

_ “Right, right. Bohlran out.” _ The badge beeped and she closed her fingers around it, there was something calming about having it back. She sighed and pushed her hair back. “Okay, I . . . I know you have questions, and I know this looks suspicious, but I can explain . . .”

“Yes, highly convenient you are now fluent in Common.” Leiliana didn’t drop her defensive stance, her eyes glittering.

“I’m not. It . . . ugh.” She racked her brain for what to say first. “I have a device called a Universal Translator. It catalogues languages and can adjust them instantly. When you closed the . . . Breach, it was able to work again and begin deciphering your language.” She saw skepticism. She didn’t blame them. “I know you don’t trust me, and there is  _ a lot _ to explain, but I’m not an enemy. My crew and I, we came here to investigate the Breach. That’s all.”

“And we should believe you, why?” Cassandra asked, Eryn rubbing her forehead.

“You all saw what happened in front of your church, Chantry, whatever. If I had a weapon like that and wanted to hurt you, wouldn’t I have done it before it was exposed?”

“That still does not--”

_ “Uh, Eryn.” _

Eryn groaned, tapping her bad. “What?”

_ “Hate to break whatever pow wow you’ve got, but something big is coming your way.” _ Cullen tensed, hand going to his sword once again. That seemed to be a normal stance for him.

“What do you mean, ‘big’?”

_ “I mean, scanners picked up life signs. A lot of lifesigns headed towards your coordinates. Unless you’re expecting company...” _

Just then a warning bell rang, Cullen running off instantly. Celebrations ceased as people rushed around for weapons and obviously under distress.

“Nakith.” Eryn spoke to her combadge once more. Waiting the few moments.

_ “Yes?” _

“How much am I able to interact--”

_ “Fuck the rules, Eryn. Do what you can to survive. This shit is bigger than we could have thought before we came through the anomaly. Don’t let lives be lost if you can help it, we’ll worry about consequences later.” _

“Aye, Commander.” She looked around at the rush of people, momentarily forgotten. She heard someone shout that an unknown army was approaching. Digging through the bag at her feet she pulled out her phaser, tricorder, and med-kit. She hooked them to her belt and clipped her badge to the side of her uniform coat she had had on in the cell. She knew someone would remember her soon enough, but she was going to help as long as she could.


	8. In Your Heart Shall Burn (Part 2)

The Commander’s face was pinched as he spoke to Miel. “Just make sure that thing hears you.” He said. The battle consisted of creatures Eryn had never seen before in her life. Soldiers of varying sizes and skills, glowing with a red stone similar to the stuff from the ruins earlier that day. She’d used her phaser a few times before Cassandra all but dragged her to the chantry for ‘safety.’ Then a  _ DRAGON  _ arrived, though it looked more like a skeleton with rotting skin stretched over it. Fires raged and a strange boy named Cole - who could read thoughts - was helping an injured man; the same man she had fought with earlier.

Apparently, they were using massive trebuchets to combat the creature and Miel was going out with a small group to try and take down the dragon and this ‘Elder One’ or another. Dorian, Cassandra, and a short man with amber hair and a crossbow went with him. Their plan seemed more like a suicide mission. They would distract the invader while the town escaped through a tunnel and signaled Miel to trigger an avalanche with a remaining trebuchet. Eryn felt useless. They would need more help for something as  _ massive _ as that thing. If only she had a phase cannon--

“Wait.” She gasped, turning to the Commander. “I can help. I can rig a cannon. Ugh, too much to explain. My pod, the thing I came in. I can use that. Let me help.”

“No, It’s too dangerous for you--”

“You think I’m the enemy, if I am then I’m dead, if not, I could help. I  _ promise _ I’ll answer all of your questions, but I can help. I can tell that your . . . Herald is important.”

Cullen sighed. “I can’t . . .”

“Commander!”

“On my way.” He turned to Eryn. “Stay here!” He ordered before running off to help some of his men. Eryn sighed, grabbing her calibration coupler and her metal-cutting torch from her bag and left the chantry.

She ran the short distance to where her broken pod lay crumpled on the ground. She instantly began working the circuits to create a rudimentary phase cannon powered by the few pieces still functional on the pod and her phaser. Damn she hoped it worked. The dragon roared, fire surrounded the area near the trebuchet. Luckily, Vulcans and Orions were stronger than humans so she was able to push the pod into view of the creature. From her vantage point she could see a beast of a man with a face that looked grotesque. It was like his face had been melted and the skin stretched around what was left of the skull. The Herald stood alone. What had happened to the others?

She could see enemy soldiers cresting the hill. She shot the ones within range with her phaser and rushed to pull apart circuits, cursing as she got shocked and had to use the metal of her prosthetic to break off one conduit and attach it to the phaser. It took her longer than she would like, but she found the correct power cells and lined up the shot; a clean headshot. The large man was leering at Miel, talking to him, and suddenly picked him up by the left arm. She could see the moment that his arm dislocated from his shoulder.

Using the broken windscreen as an amplifier and one of the backup thrusters for more power she lined up the shot once more when the guy moved. The creature held Miel up closer, a scream emitting from the man as his hand popped with a green energy. Eryn set her phaser to the highest setting and she fired, the bolt hitting the creature directly in the neck. He growled in pain, dropping the Herald as he turned to see her, the phaser beam burning its skin.

“Intruder.” He growled, Eryn unhooking the phaser from the pod and she scrambled to her feet. Her eyes met the horrified look on Miel’s face as he raced for the trebuchet, grabbing a sword from the ground.

While Eryn had expected the hit to do more damage, at least the distraction seemed to help, though it didn’t last long. The monstrous man moved back towards Miel, however, Eryn barely registered the dragon rearing up, its tail slamming into her back and sending her flying across the snow towards the trebuchet. A sharp pain pulsed up her side as the ground shook with the dragon’s rumbling roar.

She heard the scrape of metal and pushed herself up, Miel standing defensively, sword in hand. “If I am to die, I’m taking you with me.” With a strong kick, the trebuchet fired into the side of the mountain. Seizing the distraction, Miel grabbed Eryn’s arm and pulled her with him as they jumped to avoid the wall of snow. The last thing Eryn remembered was pain before her vision faded.

***

He felt like he was frozen inside a block of ice and beaten. The fall into the old tunnel had added a new level of pain to his already aching body. His shoulder was dislocated, a few ribs broken, and his leg was searing in agony. Miel dared not open his eyes for a few moments, just in case they could be harmed. He heard whistling wind above him and some creaking beyond. His head pounded from the fall as he had hit his head against the tunnel floor. He was startled out of his dozing state by a low groan to his right. Eryn. The girl from the sky. The girl who had yet to be determined friend or foe. A girl shrouded in mystery. A girl who was a complete and total idiot.

Miel opened his eyes slowly, cold air stinging as it hit the moisture there. He started to sit up but stopped when he nearly passed out from the pain in his leg. A large splinter of wood was lodged in his calf just below the knee. “Ah . . .  _ Fenedhis _ .” A light touch on his arm made him jump.

“Hey. Relax. Let me help.” Eryn said gently, sitting up. Her face was bruised and scratched from the fall. Green fluid that he could only assume was blood slipped down her temple. She fished around in her back and pulled out a strange object.

Miel grunted in pain. “You are by far the craziest shem I have ever met.” He said through grit teeth. Without warning, a blinding white pain shot up through his leg to his hip. He screamed from the agony that ripped through him. “ _ Fuck _ !” She had pulled the sizeable splinter from his calf and was using a strangely strong but net-like fabric to hold his leg in place. “I can heal it.”

“You need to save your energy. Here, I have something for the pain.” Eryn held up a small object, rectangular with a rounded tip. “It’s medicine.” Before he could protest she pressed it to his neck. He felt a moment of pressure and then she pulled away, the pain instantly subsiding.

“What was--?”

“Medicine. It’s how my people handle pain.” She put the thing back into her back. When she turned he noticed her wince and grab her left side. “Damn, what was that thing?”

“I’m not sure, but you stared down an archdemon, crazy shem.” Miel could feel the cold deep in his lungs and shuddered as his leather armor was completely soaked through.

“I get the feeling you’re insulting me.”

“Shemlen is what elves call humans.” Miel explained.

Eryn let out a small huff of air that could possibly be categorized as a chuckle. “That’s where you’re wrong,” she grunted as she pushed herself up off the ground. “I’m not human. You’re an elf?”

“Dalish.” She bent and helped him up, his injured leg useless, he couldn’t put pressure on it until it was healed, and she was right, whatever Corypheus had done to the mark, it had sapped a lot of his energy. Her metal are was cold as ice against him. “Then what  _ are _ you?”

“That’s a long story.”

“Might as well talk on the road.” Miel groaned, his left arm hung weakly at his side. They trudged forward slowly, Miel surprised when they ran into some stray demons and his mark opened a rift. It had never done that before.

A full blizzard was in force outside of the cave. Miel had a hard time believing that they could ever find their way to the rest of the Inquisition again. The cold and wind made ‘talking on the road’ difficult. They instead trudged silently through the storm with labored breaths punctuating the night air.

Miel was suddenly thankful for this crazy girl. He probably wouldn’t have been able to walk without her help, even if her arm didn’t help the chill that was seeping into his bones. He couldn’t complain though, because he could tell it affected her as much as him. Solas had said something about the appendage having the ability to feel. Was it colder than normal to her? Was it like frostbite? Her jacket wasn’t very heavy, some strange fabric covering a cotton shirt. He was sure his lips were blue from the beating cold and wind across his face. What would her darker green lips turn? He had a lot of questions, and no doubt she did too, but he was now pretty sure that whatever and whoever she was, she was their ally.

“Ah . . .” Eryn stumbled slightly, her foot slipping and her hold loosening. Miel was barely able to catch himself with his right hand and cursed out a heavy breath.

“Hey . . . you okay?” His shivers were so violent he was sure his teeth would fall out.

Eryn nodded, leaning heavily on her knees, her breaths sounding like wheezes. “Y-yea. Just . . .” she straightened slowly and went to him, lifting him up under his right arm once again. They were going East, at least, that’s what he thought from any clues he could find. Going in the direction of the snow’s path down the mountain was the best bet to finding his people.

Time seemed to stand still as the snow deepened, reaching Miel’s waist and they were both long past shivering. Eryn seemed to slow slightly, but he was surprised by her strength. They were deep into the Frostbacks now, many of the paths forcing them to climb and descend multiple times. It was with the howling of wolves that she pulled out the weapon that had destroyed the wall in Haven. Miel doubted the creatures would get close enough to be a threat.

“W-we can use it . . . like a flare.” she explained shortly after, putting it in his hand. Her right hand was just as cold as her left. Her lips and fingertips a dull grey. “Point this up at the sky and press down on this button. It’s set to stun. The only thing . . . it’ll kill is a-a small animal.” Miel winced as the pain in his leg throbbed and swelled. Any pressure at all felt like torture. He could hear the wheezes in her breath better now, possibly damage from the archdemon.

 

Miel groaned. He didn’t remember falling asleep but he woke with a face full of snow. Eryn was nearby in a similar position. They must have fallen, much like the other times, but didn’t get up. His muscles felt like stone, stiff and frozen. He couldn’t feel his left arm, though the mark crackled on his palm. The other hand held the weapon. Gritting his teeth he pulled himself forward and nudged Eryn’s arm. She groaned, fingers clenched in the snow. His voice croaked as he spoke. “Hey . . . Eryn.” He had to shake her a few more times before she moved.

“S-sorry.” She gasped in pain when she moved to stand, but she helped Miel up once again and their slow process continued once more.

Hope came in the form of warm ashes on their trail. Someone was nearby. They could make it. With the clue that they were on the right track, Miel started using the device as a flare like Eryn had suggested.  _ Something  _ that could be seen by the Inquisition’s forces. Eryn was pretty sure that if someone saw it it could increase their chances of being found.

Eryn’s chest burned as she used both arms to trudge forward with Miel. Her strength was starting to wear thin and the cold was making her joints creak. Her vision was foggy and she couldn’t feel her toes. Miel seemed encouraged by the embers they found and was setting off a phase beam every few moments. It was when they started cresting a hill that she felt Miel’s body go slack and she was barely able to keep her footing so they didn’t tumble down the rest of the way. She grunted and fell against the side of a large rocky structure, wincing as she felt each rock bite into her back.

The strange mark on his hand flared, his weight falling onto her and she forced a few more steps before she lost her footing. Her left lung felt like it was on fire but filled with ice at the same time, it was weak from the injury that took her arm. Four ribs had been replaced and installed with her prosthetic. 

“ . . . found him!”

There was a far away voice as she forced herself to her knees. It felt like cotton had been shoved in her ears. The lights were suddenly too bright. Miel was moved, his weight gone. She lurched to try and find him but a burning heat gripped her.

Eryn searched for the source and found it was hands, hands connected to arms that weren’t hers and those connected to a man. Eyes stared down at her. Why did his touch burn? Just as suddenly as she had lost her senses they rushed back and everything was too loud. In a rush of sound that hummed she hears voices all around her.

“Herald--”

“. . . get to camp . . .”

“What happened . . . ?”

“Can you move?”

It took her a moment to realize that the man in front of her was speaking. The man . . . blonde hair. Golden brown eyes. Commander. That’s who it was. He was gripping her shoulders, his eyes wide. His voice sounded so distant but yet too loud. “Can you hear me?”

“Commander, we must get them back to camp. She’s going into shock.”

More fire burned into her as she was held closer. God he was warm. Something fuzzy was pressed up against her face. The voice kept talking but she didn’t listen, instead, she sunk into black.


	9. In Your Heart Shall Burn (Part 3)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The last part of "In Your Heart Shall Burn" we're finally getting to the fun stuff!

Cullen turned around for three seconds. Three-maker-damned-seconds, and she was gone. She had made it pretty clear that she had come to understand their language. She had defied a direct order! (not that she was part of his command in any sense of the word). She was going to get killed - or finally reveal her loyalty - out there. But Cullen couldn’t risk sending anyone after her, they had very little time to evacuate Haven and they needed to move quickly.

Dorian was tense as they made it through the passageway on the other side of the valley, but he insisted he be the one to light the flare. All of Haven stood with bated breath as the mountain came down and smothered Haven in white.

“Commander.” Cassandra’s voice startled him into realizing he had been holding his breathe. “Where is the woman Eryn? Leiliana would like to start questioning her.”

Cullen hesitated, nervously rubbing at his neck. “She . . . slipped away from me. She ran out into that whole mess just as we were evacuating.”

“Dammit.” Cassandra hissed, looking about ready to punch something. “Well, I doubt no matter what her affiliation she survived that.”

“And the Herald?” Cullen asked, surprised by her pessimism. Cassandra smiled ever-so-slightly.

“Miel will be alright. I . . . if he can survive the fade, he can find a way down from Haven. I truly believe Andraste will protect her Herald.”

Cullen gave a tight nod, crossing his arms behind his back as mages rushed to tend to the wounded and he coordinated troops to scout the trail ahead for the people of Haven. Cullen, along with the Herald’s companions took turns searching the area and leaving a trail in search of their Herald. They would  _ not _ give up on Miel. The person behind the title was more important than any ideal created by the public.

“We can’t keep moving so far. Lavellan could--”

“I understand your concern, but the weather is still harsh and we need to get these people to safety.” Josephine told a quite irate Dorian. “We move any slower and our wounded could be compromised.”

“Lavellan is out there! We simply cannot abandon him. Not after all he has done.” Dorian shouted, staff in hand. Dorian sighed from his post.

A day already passed by and there was no movement on the mountain. He, like many others, was still holding out hope, though rumors were beginning to spread about the death of Andraste’s Herald.

As night fell during the second day, Cullen pulled another search team together. He, Cassandra, Dorian, and Solas bundled up against the dying storm to retrace their steps back towards the mountains. It was Solas who saw the flash.

“Seeker. Commander.” He gasped, pointing towards a mountain pass. A few seconds passed and a red flash lit up the distance. Dorian gasped, muttering a few words that were eaten by the wind.

“What is that?” Cassandra asked as Cullen watched the light flash again a few moments later. It was inconsistent, sometimes only a few seconds separated the flares, sometimes it was a minute or so. It was so familiar, the flash. It was similar to the weapon that destroyed . . .

“Eryn.”

“Commander?” Solas asked.

“The girl. Eryn. That light looks like her weapon. She had it when she left the Chantry.” Cullen explained. “The Herald could have found it, could be using it--”

“Or she made it out.” Cassandra added.

The flashes were getting closer, closer, brighter. Dorian growled in his throat and rushed forward. “ _ Vishante kaffas _ , let’s go.” He rushed forward and the three others followed. The hill was slick, the snow deeper than it had been a few hours prior. The red flashes stopped and Cullen felt dread bubble up in his stomach. Dorian kept moving forward, cursing and stumbling and breathing heavily. Two minutes. Three . . .

A flash of green. A silhouette. No, two. One stumbled and caught themselves while dragging the other. The limp one had a green glow. The Herald. Eryn.

“We found him!” Dorian gasped, rushing to catch him as Eryn lost all strength. Cassandra and Solas ran after Dorian as Cullen raced to catch Eryn. She felt like ice, her metal arm crusted and stiff with ice, her skin - the unreal green gone - was pale. What he could only describe as blood,  _ green _ blood, was caked on her lips and the side of her face. Her eyes were fogging and her breath was shallow and wet. Lung wound.

“Eryn. Can you hear me?” He asked gently, but she only seemed to be trying to pull at any remaining adrenaline to keep moving.

“Herald. Solas, can we move him safely?” Cassandra gasped, looking at his oozing and infected leg.

“Yes, but quickly. We have to get to camp before the damage gets worse.”

“ _ Kaffas _ . What happened? Lavellan you had better live.” Dorian gasped, helping Cassandra with the Herald. Cullen focused back on Eryn.

“Can you move?” Her attention seemed to catch for a moment. Her eyes met his. Violet, deep purple eyes. It was like she saw and heard him, but didn’t comprehend. “Can you move? Can you understand me?” Worry played through his mind. Solas was at his side the next second.

“Commander. We must get them back to camp. She’s going into shock.” Cullen nodded. He scooped his arms around her shoulders and under her knees to lift her from the ground. He was surprised by how light she was, how the cold of her arm cut through his cloak.

In a flurry of movement, Lavellan and Eryn were rushed back to their camp and immediately swept up by healers and anyone else available to help.

Movement was delayed so that the healers could work, luckily the storm settled and the harsh weather abated to give the people some peace. Cullen, however, felt anything but. He didn’t understand why, but Eryn worried him. She was an unknown, an oddity, they knew about as much about her as they knew about the Breach. But, she had saved the Herald. Cullen had seen the state of Miel’s leg, she had to have basically dragged him from Haven. And rumors were already moving through the camp.

Cullen sighed. All he could remember was the chill of her skin, the fogginess over her violet eyes, and how she felt in his arms.  _ Maker’s breath . . .  _

“Commander.” Leiliana’s voice made him jump.

“Maker, sister! You startled me.”

She smiled. “I apologize, Commander, I did not mean to.” She watched a small crowd of people chatting and happy. “They are calling her Andraste’s Watchdog, sent to protect her Herald.” She said with an amused chuckled on her lips.

Cullen started. “W-what? The girl? Oh, she’ll love that.”

“Yes. Some wanted to use ‘Andraste’s Mabari’ though that image doesn’t seem quite fitting.” Leiliana said. “However, there is now no doubt in the people’s minds that Miel is sent by Andraste. He has now come out of the fade and back from the dead.”

“And Eryn? How do they explain all  _ her _ oddities?” It wasn’t a nice term, but it was efficient.

Leiliana chuckled, enjoying it too much. “That she was one of Andraste’s soldiers in the war against Tevinter, that she was given the strength of the Breach. The ideas aren’t what matter really, it’s the moral. Hope is building amongst the people of Haven and it will spread.”

Cullen nodded, though he doubted Miel would be pleased with the secured title. He  _ hated _ that title. “How are they? Lavellan and Eryn.” He was surprised how easily her name fell from his tongue lately.

“They are in good hands. The girl seems to have reacted poorly to magic at first, Vivienne was quite perturbed. She took a blood sample for Minaeve as well.” Leiliana explained. “The Herald has multiple broken bones, a dislocated shoulder, and early hypothermia. Nothing our mages can’t handle.”

Cullen nodded and smiled. “Well, it’s good to have  _ some _ good news. Albeit small.”

Leliana bobbed her head. “Good day, Commander.” She walked away as Cullen tended to some more of his duties.

***

Lavellan woke the next day, annoyed by his proclaimed status; coming back from the dead was a pain in the ass. Having Dorian near, however, was a nice perk. Eryn woke shortly after, she without the same grace as Miel. She punched Solas in the nose and cursed at him in a strange language before she calmed down enough to recall what had happened.

“God . . . who shoved my head in a warp drive.” She groaned, rubbing her temples as she sat up. Cullen volunteered to be there after Solas reported her initial reaction. Eryn met his gaze, the bruising along the side of her face faded. “Oh . . . uhm, did I hit you?”

Cullen couldn’t hide his smile. “No. That was, unfortunately, Solas who had the pleasure.”

“ _ Hu’tegh _ .” She swore, sighing. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean--”

“It’s fine. We all know the feeling.” Cullen interrupted with a wave of his hand. He was just disappointed that he hadn’t gotten to see it. “I’m actually here to collect you. You said you were willing to answer our questions.”

Eryn nodded. “Uh, yea.” She noticed her clothes had been changed. Some leather pants, heavier boots, a new shirt and jacket. “Where am I?”

“We are following a trail away from Haven. You and Lavellan both arrived a day ago over the mountain.” He explained.

“He’s okay?” She couldn’t remember much besides snow and cold from the . . . how long had it been anyway?

Cullen nodded. “Yes. We have you to thank for that, I believe. Thedas is in your debt.”

Eryn’s brow rose. “I don’t really think . . .”

Cullen helped her up from the cot. “If you feel up to it, we’d like to talk with you while we can.” Eryn agreed.

“Okay, like I said, I’ll answer all your questions.” She grimaced when she realized her arm had no movement with the layers of shirt and jacket. “I think I hurt a lung.”

“Our healers handled it. You should be pretty much good as new.”

“How?”

“Our healing mages are quite good.” Cullen assured her and Eryn sighed.

“I swear if I hadn’t seen your magic voodoo myself I would think you were crazy.” she muttered as Cullen led her out of the tent and through the camp. It was calm out, tents scattering the area with all survivors gathered around fires. The people whispered as they passed and Eryn was startled by the lack of glares; it had her concerned. Some were even looking wide eyed, some gawking.

Cullen led her to a larger area at the back of the camp. Eight people were gathered around a fire set up in a more private part of the valley. If she never saw snow again it would be too soon. Eryn recognized a few of them. Cassandra, Solas, the Iron Bull, and Dorian. Miel was there as well, bruised and nursing a slight limp. There was also the redhead from before, a woman with curly dark hair and a candle-lit clipboard, and a man about four feet tall with amber chest hair.

Miel’s smile beamed as he saw Cullen approach. “Good to see you up and about.” he greeted.

“You . . . too . . .” Eryn replied, watching the cluster of people. “So, is this an interrogation?”

Miel started before chuckling. “Oh, no. Just a gathering between my advisors and a few of my companions.” he explained.

“There is no need to worry, Miss. Your aid to the Herald was plenty, we simply wish for answers. I am Josephine Montilyet, ambassador to the Inquisition.” The woman with the clipboard said with a Spanish-like accent. It reminded her of her mamá back on Earth. “I believe you have met Cassandra Pentaghast along with the Iron Bull, and Dorian Pavus. Sister Leiliana,” she gestured to the redhead, “is our spymaster and Varric Tethras,” the shorter man grinned, “is one of Lavellan’s companions.”

“You wound me, Ruffles.” the one named Varric said with feigned hurt. “I’m also a storyteller, rogue, and more of an unwelcome tagalong than companion.” Miel chuckled in response as Eryn gave a small nod.

“Uh, nice to meet you.” She said, still not sure if she was completely out of suspicion. She shifted her arm and could feel the joints clog with fabric. Damn that would be a pain. She straightened her stance, an action noticed by Cullen and Bull. “Your commander mentioned questions.” God it was good to be able to understand them and be understood.

Cassandra looked . . . amused by Eryn’s obvious military-like training. Miel spoke. “We will be on the road for a little while. Enough time for us to finally, and civilly, speak.” He limped up to her and extended a hand. “Miel Lavellan. First to the keeper of clan Lavellan and, supposed, Herald of Andraste.”

Eryn shook his hand. “I’m Verrynsaar T’laan Dawson. Eryn is fine. Lieutenant and engineer.”

Varric chuckled. “Almost as much as a mouthful as you, Seeker.” he muttered, the tension dissipating a little as the man named Krem came by with drinks - it smelled like alcohol. Bull called it ‘ale’. It almost felt like a gathering of friends that she was butting in on. Dorian and Miel chatted as some food was passed around, all the smells from the group, alcohol, and food mixing and making her feel a bit ill as she was seated between Cullen and Solas. Everyone watched her, but Leiliana’s gaze was intense and she was the first to address her after a long moment of casual talk.

“Please tell us about yourself, Eryn. I’m sure there are plenty of questions among us, but you would know best where to begin.” She had a pointe, if only Eryn  _ had _ an idea of where to even start to explain. From what she could gather they didn’t have the power to fly or even handguns. At least they seemed to understand the idea of different races and exploration.

Everyone’s attention was on her thanks to Leiliana’s request. “Well, um . . . let’s see . . .” Damn, Starfleet would blow a gasket with all the protocols she was about to break. “I come from a world fascinated with exploration. We have spent centuries adapting science, tools, and weapons for better and stronger uses. Through advances in technology we now explore space. We . . . we have ships that sail through the sky and stars instead of water.” Thankfully the metaphor was helpful. “I work and live on one of those ships for an organization known as Starfleet. I make sure the ship, the  _ USS Godavari _ , stays in working order.”

Solas spoke up when she came to a brief pause. “Are all people from this ship like you? Of your origin?” She laughed into her hand.

“Heh, no. Both biologically and in personality. There are thousands of races where I’m from. I’m actually a hybrid raised by a human couple.” It felt strange to her to dumb everything down to such simplicity. “I assumed you meant in regards to my skin. Don’t apologize, most people are  . . . cautious. My mother was an Orion. A green-skinned race mainly run by women. They  _ tend _ to use their um . . . pheromones to enrapture men of most races and drive them to delirium. No, no I . . .” they all had stiffened with the admission. “I’m only half. I don’t seem to have any kind of ‘effect.’ That’s because of my father. He was a Vulcan. They’re a race of mentally strong beings that, centuries ago, began repressing their “primal” emotions in order to end their constant wars. They base their entire society on logic and reason. They are also unaffected by the Orions. I have no idea how  _ I _ happened but . . . yea. So, no worries about that from me.”

It was a lot of information to process, she didn’t blame their mild shock or confusion. Cassandra spoke next. “How did you get here?”

“Oh, well, I’m a part of a four person research team. We were sent to investigate an anomaly - the Breach - that appeared in space. It pulled us through and our ship ended up in orbit around your world with limited power. I took the pod out to try and get closer to the anomaly but lost power and crashed.” Eryn pushed some hair out of her face. “We simply wanted to figure out what it was. We don’t want to hinder anything on your world.”

“You proved that much already, Eryn.” Miel assured her. “You saved my life.”

“After I pulled a stupid stunt.”

“Yes. Very.” Cullen muttered under his breath. Varric chuckled while Bull simply watched Eryn’s body language. She was being open, but it was clear she wasn’t going into detail. Dorian quirked an eyebrow.

“What are your plans now that the Breach is closed, Lieutenant Dawson?” Cullen saw Eryn’s shoulders go rigid. He had so many questions, wanted to find out about her, but now wasn’t the time.

“My Commander said we still had limited power on the ship and more scans need to be done to see if we can get back.” She said softly. “Despite the consequences, I have clearance to aid you in any way I can. If you would prefer, however, I can leave.”

“That will not be necessary.” Josephine said swiftly, “In fact, your presence is quite positive. Your help to the Herald has not only secured Miel’s position, but the people also believe Andraste sent you as his protector.”

Eryn scoffed. “You’re kidding.”

“They are comparing you to Andraste’s Mabari.” Cassandra added with a small smile. Eryn was sure they were messing with her, but no one let that show if it was. Varric was chuckling and she turned to Cullen.

“Andante’s what-now?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eryn may not know how her parents got together, but YOU can! [Click here to find out!](http://archiveofourown.org/works/7650130)
> 
> _Hu’tegh_ \- Klingon for "damn it"


	10. Skyhold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What is this? Building relationships? Making friends?! It's a miracle!  
> And Eryn finally gets a nickname a la Varric Tethras! wahoo!

The next two days were spent with Eryn struggling to explain the complexities of stars and space and multiple planets to the people of the Inquisition. They seemed to have a basic understanding of stars and space, but nothing near the knowledge necessary for anything near space travel. Apparently her information contested many people’s religious beliefs. Cassandra was especially shaken. Eryn didn’t necessarily mind being avoided, she was used to it in some capacity, but it was made slightly more awkward by the fact that she was in a tent with Cassandra. Apparently they were due to arrive at their destination within the day, which she was thankful for.

The Inquisition was by no means a hostile place, compared to some places she had been it was peaceful. Varric, an elf named Sera, and a bearded man named Blackwall had answered all of her questions happily one night. She learned that Varric was a dwarf and the Iron Bull was a Qunari - both a race and religion. They explained some idiosyncrasies she observed and the existence of magic in more detail and in exchange she went into depth about her biosynthetic arm and her ‘flying ship’. It was a fascinating culture, and the more she learned about the Breach and the Inquisitions mission the more she confirmed that. Though, she also continually regretted being the one to explain her situation. Her presence had already shaken people, but telling them that the world they understood was potentially infinitely larger than they had originally believed created dozens of harder questions. T’lek would have been able to handle the situation  _ so _ much better.

“Shit.” she muttered as she struggled to remove her shirt. She understood lacking supplies and could deal with it, but the woman Vivienne had scolded her the day before - telling her in no uncertain terms that if she tore another shirt she’d be in trouble. The woman was terrifying, like Klingon warrior woman terrifying. Maybe even a Q would be scared of her. The sleeve was stuck in the joint of her elbow and ripped when she tried to maneuver her right arm to grab the fabric. “Ugh, fuck.” She muttered, giving up momentarily and sinking down onto the bedroll in the tent. She brushed her hair out of her face and tied it back in a tiny ponytail.

“. . . and we’ll want two groups to make sure all areas are secure. The Commander can--” Cassandra had pulled open the tent as she spoke. Eryn only looked up when she had abruptly stopped.

“Anything you need?” Eryn asked, Cassandra and Josephine blocking the entrance, both looking mildly . . . horrified? Eryn gasped and realized her shirt was only hanging on at her left arm, her chest was bare which meant . . .  _ Oh crap. _

She covered herself with her arms sheepishly. “I-I . . . oh shit. Sorry.”

Josephine looked shocked. “O-oh my. I . . .”

“Our apologies, Lieutenant.” Cassandra said stiffly, leading Josie away and letting the tent flap close.

Eryn felt ripped open, not moving for a long moment before she let her arms fall to her sides. It had been a year since the accident and getting a reaction like that . . . damn that was uncomfortable. She looked down where skin puckered as it fused with metal and wire, angry, gnarled burn scars jutting out from underneath. The blast had taken her arm as well as most of her upper rib cage which had to be replaced by metal and destroyed her left breast. Then there was the scar pulling out from her sternum from the breast she had removed to match her left side. She was sure Cassandra and Josephine had known, it was pretty obvious she didn’t have tits, but knowing and  _ seeing _ are two very different things.

With a groan, Eryn yanked off the remains of the shirt and pulled on the leather jacket that she actually could wear - having clipped her combadge to it. Making sure the front was closed she left the tent. Josephine was talking with a with a few people by a wooden table, she started when she met Eryn’s eyes. Eryn didn’t hold the contact and continued to the edge of the camp boundaries. She tapped her combadge when she reached a far enough point. “Bohlran?”

There was a minute of silence. For a brief moment she thought something bad had happened, but then the sleepy voice of her friend responded.  _ “Eryn? What’s going on?” _

“Hey. Sorry, did I wake you?”

_ “Nah, not really. Just picking up your slack in engineering.” _

“Hurt my baby and I will cut off your antennae and mount them on the bridge.” Bohlran’s laugh helped to soothe her fragile nerves.

_ “I’ll keep that in mind lieutenant. So, what do I owe the pleasure?” _

She hesitated. Why had she called ? Oh yea, she wanted out. She had caused enough trouble and she didn’t want to screw it up anymore. She’d already have her position terminated and a possible court martial for what she had done.

_ “Eryn?” _

“Oh, yea. Uh . . . shit. Bohl. I am  _ not _ good at this.”

_ “What do you mean? You annoy me all the time.” _

Eryn groaned, kicking at the snow and leaning beside a large rock. “Not that Bohl. I  _ enjoy _ that. It’s being down here. I fucked up, Bohl. Not only have I interfered but I’m making people question their beliefs! Their entire existences! You shouldn’t have sent me down here.”

_ “We didn’t have much of a choice. T’lek was unconscious and Nakith was injured.” _

“Well, they aren’t now so let’s swap.”

_ “That would be counter productive. Besides, we have minimal power, no transporter, and  _ someone _ crashed our pod.” _

“Oh shut up.” Eryn growled, rubbing her sore shoulder. She sighed and let her mind calm down a moment. “Is the wormhole still active?”

_ “As far as we can tell. T’lek is still running tests. You safe down there?” _

“Yea, I’m fine. Just . . . out of place. And that’s not strange coming from me.” She smiled, “Let me know if anything changes, ‘kay?”

_ “I will. Hey! Nakith stop--” _

Eryn chuckled and turned to head back, jumping when a looming, horned figure slightly blocked her path. The Iron Bull and Krem had been taking turns ‘keeping an eye’ on her. She understood, especially when she had the bad habit of wandering around.

“If the boss didn’t trust you, you’d be dead.” She was always startled by the deep voice that came out of the Qunari.

“ _ That’s _ reassuring.” She muttered, taking the trail back just as they were getting ready to pack up once again.

They set out in a large caravan-like mass led by Miel and Solas. No one she had talked to really knew where they were going, but seemed optimistic that their ‘herald’ would come through. It was incredible the faith these people had in him. The pressure had to be suffocating, but the morale that it supported was astounding. Things weren’t that way on Earth much anymore since they long ago rid themselves of war, poverty, and religious persecution. Her mamá was, in fact, a strong Catholic. It was a very idyllic world that had no need to create religious icons like the Miel.

“Hey Tips.” the man, Varric, came up beside her and she looked out of the corner of her eye.

“Huh? What did you call me?”

Varric chuckled. “It’s a nickname. Tips. Like those points on the  _ tips _ of your ears.” Compared to the elves in Thedas with their long, pointed ears, Vulcan ears looked like a human basically took their ear and pinched the tip together into a point like it was made of clay.

“Oh.” She whispered, having noticed his names for people over the last day. At least he hadn’t picked something like ‘goblin’ or ‘green bean’. “I  . . . see.”

Varric seemed pleased with himself. “You seem surprised.”

“Oh, no. Not really. I just thought that was a . . . a friend thing.” Eryn said softly, tricorder in hand so she could scan flora and fauna for Bohlran. It earned a few strong looks, but no one said anything if it bothered them.

“Heh, no. Almost everyone gets one.” And Eryn saw a slight twinkle in his eyes. “Where  _ do _ you believe you stand?” He was curious to her perceptions of the Inquisition. The storyteller in him was fascinated with the world and lifestyle she had been slowly revealing.

Eryn hesitated, scanning a strange, leafy plant that she would later learn was elfroot, as a distraction. “I’m not sure. I seem to remember being a prisoner until only recently, but people are also comparing me to a dog, so . . .”

“Ah, the mighty mabari.” Varric chuckled as Eryn gave him a slight glare.

“You say that as if it’s a good thing.”

Varric laughed heartily, shaking his head as if at an unsaid joke. “Ferelden’s  _ love _ their dogs. They’re practically people to them. Family.”

Eryn scowled. “Wow. So I’m  _ almost _ a person. I feel so special.”

“A person of a deity.”

“That doesn’t really make it better.” She sighed and saw a few ravens fly across the sky. She thought their use as message carriers was interesting, much like the use of pigeons in early Earth history. She would have to find out more about that later. There was a lot she wanted to know about their world and the way it worked. “Sorry I just feel . . . out of place. Even more than usual.” she felt like she had been a bit snappy with her last sentence. The last thing she needed was people thinking she was a colossal bitch.

Varric raised a hand and smiled. “All the weirdness you’ve had? Most people would spread that out a bit more than a few days.” He squinted. “What are you doing?”

The group was slowing a little with the continual walking through the mountains. Eryn was starting to feel the chill from wearing nothing but the jacket - Vivienne had not been pleased that another shirt had been ruined with such minimal supplies available. Luckily the movement provided enough warmth. 

“Just a few scans. Data collection of flora. Plants and such. Our scientist wants some information.” She explained.

“Is that like an arcanist?”

“Kind of, someone who studies our world.” She specified. “Something here is interfering with our engines. Uhm . . . it’s like if there were holes in the sails of a seafaring vessel. We need to find a way to . . . to patch it. Ugh . . . with nothing but rocks.” she grumbled. It was frustrating, especially from so far away from the rest of the ship. Varric caught it and grinned mischievously.

“Well, we’ll have to find someone who can help you with that.” He said, rubbing his stubbled chin. “Perhaps  _ Curly _ could help you somehow.” There was a smirk on his face that he didn’t really try to hide from her. Her confusion was priceless.

“What?”

“Curly. Our dear Commander.”

“Why . . . why would he be helpful?” Eryn’s face etched in confusion. “Does he have a background in research or access to supplies?”

“Heh, no. But everyone could use moral support. You two seem to be getting along.” The dwarf waggled his eyebrows and laughed at her surprised reaction.

“What! No, no. Nothing like that is happening.” She insisted firmly. “We talk, I talk with a lot of people. I would barely consider us acquaintances. It means nothing.”

“What means nothing? Oo, did I interrupt some juicy gossip? Please, don’t stop on my account.” Dorian sidled up on Eryn’s other side and she groaned.

“No. We--”

“Just making a friendly observation.” Varric said with mock innocence and Dorian grinned evilly.

“Oh? So friendly reaction. With a certain someone?”

“Oh my god!  _ quvHa’ Hoch qorDu’! quvHa’ Hoch parHa’ghachwIj! _ ” Eryn grumbled, stalking off ahead of the snickering men. Dorian muttered a “bless you” as Cole appeared beside Varric.

“Isolation. You should hide your emotions and never feel. Everyone sees something unnatural and strange. Accused. Called a deceptive b--”

“That’s enough, Kid.” Varric whispered, watching as Eryn disappeared into the crowd ahead of them with surprising ease.

***

Skyhold was incredible! It was a colossal fortress with fortified battlements, large towers, and a massive basic structure. Most of it was in disrepair and crumbling. Miel was pretty sure a strong mountain breeze could knock the entire structure down. But it seemed to be the perfect place for the Inquisition to take hold. With the help of the healing mages, Miel had been able to recover from his injuries and follow Solas through the Frostbacks to the mysterious fortress.

“Herald!” One of Leiliana’s scouts ran up to him. “There is a meeting on the main stair. This way.” Miel followed, slowly taking note of things that needed to be done around Skyhold. He caught a glimpse of Eryn a few times throughout their journey. He knew it was reasonable to stay on guard around her. Hell, he was still getting to know most of his companions. But Miel had a feeling that the people weren’t sincere in their view of her. They had been very quick to proclaim her his protector. They had waited at least a day after he first sealed the breach before proclaiming him Herald.

Leiliana, Cassandra, and Josephine were gathered on the stairway that led up to the main room. Cullen was below with a group of people from haven surrounding him. “The Inquisition needs a leader. Someone who has been leading this whole time.” Cassandra said to Miel’s shock.

He wasn’t a leader! He hated making life-or-death decisions and despised being called the Herald of Andraste, as if he was some kind of deity. No. No he couldn’t be in charge of the Inquisition! Cullen or Leiliana would be so much better. Cassandra too! They were all more qualified than  _ him _ .

Miel couldn’t tell you how they convinced him to agree, how they yet again made him into an icon for all of Thedas. But they did. He agreed and hoisted the massive sword in the air, proclaiming he would stop Corypheus and save the people. Crowds cheered, Cullen actually  _ smiled _ , and even though Miel felt dread filling his gut, a small part of himself felt hopeful for their cause.

In a few days, Miel would be going to the Exalted Plains and he had to get everything prepared. While he was out he would be keeping an eye out for supplies to help in the rebuilding of Skyhold. A lot of rooms had holes in the ceilings and questionable structural integrity. He did, however, like that his friends no longer had to live out of tents. They deserved a somewhat nice place to rest given everything they had to put up with following him around all over Thedas.

Blackwall set up shop in the stables with Master Dennet. Miel stopped by to check on his halla after Haven and see how Blackwall was doing. The grey warden was standing by the fire carving but he seemed content, though not very talkative. Sera, Cole, and  Bull all set up shop in the tavern with the bartender Cabot. The chargers had rooms in an adjacent building with a few more rooms for the company.

Cassandra had a room in the main hall like Varric and Josephine. Solas and Dorian claimed rooms off the library. Dorian was absolutely giddy with the assortment of knowledge - even with the lack of Tevene texts. He would have to make sure to look for some while away. Leiliana was set up with her network of ravens and, surprise surprise, Cullen had a room above his office with a gaping hole in the roof. He wasn’t sure where Vivienne went off to but he did find Mother Giselle in a bare courtyard-like area. She, of course, still insisted he embrace Andraste’s plan for him. Miel was slowly learning the art of gently telling her to leave him alone. Josephine called that ‘the game’.

He finally found Eryn while walking the battlements around Skyhold. She was sitting on the wall talking with Cassandra, who was leaning beside her. “I don’t know why it matters.” Eryn said, tossing a rock out towards the mountains.

Cassandra sighed. “I merely asked if you support Lavellan as Inquisitor.” Miel stopped short, not wanting to make his presence known. He was intrigued to see why the Seeker would ask that. And what Eryn would say.

“And I asked why that matters.” Eryn was looking over the edge as she swung her legs loosely. “I’ve agreed to help your cause, Ms. Pentaghast. Why does it matter what I think of your Inquisitor?”

“To know where you stand. That Lavellan is safe.”

“And there it is!” Eryn chuckled, leaning back on her hands. “I don’t blame you if you don’t trust me. I probably seem pretty crazy. Look. I like Miel. I wouldn’t have raced a falling mountain if I didn’t. I think your cause is good, but I’m not picking sides. Not officially. I’ll help how I can, it’s more than I should be doing.”

Cassandra opened her mouth but then promptly shut it and nodded before leaving. Miel watched a moment before he walked out to meet her. She heard him and didn’t start when he spoke.

“Settling in alright?” He asked.

She chuckled. “Just fine.” she turned to look at him. “How much did you hear?”

“Just the last part.” Miel assured her. “I’m glad you . . . like me. And we all appreciate the help. I heard you spent some time giving medical tips to the healers. Saved someone’s leg. You have knowledge we can you  _ and _ appreciate. You’ve already proven all that, at least to me.”

Eryn smiled. “Thanks. I . . . thank you.” She picked at her fingernail absently. “So. How do  _ you _ feel about being ‘inquisitor’?” Miel had to laugh at the tone she used, as if it was ridiculous.

“Not sure yet. It still feels  . . . wrong. Just like being called the Herald.” Miel answered, groaning and rubbing his forehead. “I never asked for this.”

“No one ever does. Life kind of just . . . throws bad things at you and figures out what you can handle. No matter if you want it or not.” Eryn said softly. “But you have a lot of people who believe you can do it. And willing to protect and help you. That’s not too bad, right?”

Miel smiled. “Heh, yea. That’s really nice. So, are you skulking up here like a vulture or have you claimed a room?”

“Heh, didn’t know we were calling dibs.” Eryn chuckled. “I’ll have to scope out a place. Don’t worry.”

Miel smiled. “I won’t. Though you don’t have to hide up here. Socialize a little.”

“People don’t seem to like me much. They always keep a distance.” Eryn explained. “But I’ll try. To be . . . social. Just as long as no one calls me a malabi.”

“Mabari. And as long as you don’t call me Inquisitor, I’ll call you Eryn.” Miel said and Eryn nodded.

“You’ve got a deal, Miel.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * _quvHa’ Hoch qorDu’! quvHa’ Hoch parHa’ghachwIj!_ \- Klingon for "Dishonor on all of your family! Dishonor on everything you love!"


	11. Up On The Battlements

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cullen and Eryn talk and Eryn gets a visit from someone quite unexpected.

It was surprising how quickly Skyhold seemed to fill up with people, even as the place was crumbling beneath their feet. News spread quickly, especially as Miel traveled once more. He had met up with a friend of Varric’s, someone named ‘Hawke’ before he took Dorian, Varric, and Blackwall to the Exalted Plains. Eryn wasn’t entirely sure what he was doing out there, or where it was exactly compared to Skyhold’s location, but no one seemed too worried by his plans. She had nothing quite as exciting planned. Her day was, instead, devoted to taking scans for T’lek and, apparently, being followed around by the creepy child that kept following her around. He said his name was Cole, but he got into her head and she wasn’t too fond of that.

It was while she was walking through the courtyard that Eryn ran into a quite irritated Cassandra, muttering curses under her breath as her sword made contact with a practice dummy. Her sword swished through the air as it cut right through the cloth doll made of straw, clean through to the other end, and she continued to assault it. Eryn chuckled. “I think it’s learned it’s lesson.”

Cassandra scowled. “It is not the dummy that I wish would learn.” She muttered, moving back into her starting stance and swinging precisely, cutting the ‘head’ clean off.

“Uh . . . imagining someone in particular?” Eryn pocketed her tricorder. Because Vivienne seemed intent on criticizing her fashion, Eryn had come up with a solution partially inspired by the harness worn by the Iron Bull. By using a similar leather garment to hold up the left side of a shirt or jacket, she could simply remove the one sleeve without worrying about how the rest of the shirt would stay in place. Vivienne hadn’t complained and the Iron Bull seemed somewhat flattered to be inspiration, so she figured she had at least a temporary solution.

Cassandra groaned her frustration before she sheathed her sword. “Yes, but that is none of your concern.” She turned and seemed to  _ try _ to relax a little. “Something I could help you with?”

“No, just walking by. You were intense there.” Eryn said softly, crossing her arms casually. “Cullen mentioned earlier that I should try to practice more with melee weapons since that is your mode of combat. I don’t see why it would be pivotal for me to learn, but since you seem to be masterful with a sword . . .”

“I’m sorry but I do not have time to teach you.” Cassandra said, but she nodded afterwards. “But I agree with the Commander. You said before you had experience with a two-handed weapon?”

“Very little. Just the basics, really. Enough to disarm a man, but nothing meant for true battle.” Eryn corrected. “I’m an engineer, not a soldier.”

“Whatever an ‘engineer’ is, the uniform you arrived in says otherwise. You are obviously a part of some unified force.”

“For exploration. Not combat.”

Cassandra’s brow creased. “Then how would you explain your weapon? It seems to do plenty of damage.”

“For self defense against races uh . . . not so friendly. But Starfleet is meant for exploring and learning, we aren’t meant to conquer or fight in wars. Though, it does happen, that doesn’t mean we’re trained for it.” Eryn specified and Cassandra pondered this for a moment, leaning back against the stone wall.

“Yes, then I definitely agree with the Commander’s statement. While you are here, you are in the middle of a war. If something should happen, you should be able to protect yourself. I don’t have time at the moment to help, but I’m sure Cullen could direct you to someone more suitable.”

“He suggested you.” Eryn stated, though the idea of having to be caught in the middle of this war frightened her. She knew she wasn’t exactly following the rules anymore, but fighting another culture’s war, a culture not yet ready for her kind of technology? It didn’t sit right with her. “But I’ll see if there is anyone else. If anything, I’m sure I can figure it out on my own.”

“I wouldn’t advise that, Lieutenant.” Cassandra had taken to using her rank, as some others had, and Eryn didn’t mind one bit. “Self-education, while sometimes practical, can lead to bad habits.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Eryn nodded, taking her leave of the ‘Seeker’. She would have to ask eventually what that meant, but that was a question for another time. A lot was going on with the rebuilding of Skyhold and the Inquisition and everything in between, the last thing they had time for was questions from a foreigner. 

“Loneliness, separation. A voice heard but only to such--”

“Okay, please stop.” Eryn sighed, turning to see the bleach-blonde boy with the enormous hat that appeared and disappeared like a vision. “You’re not helping anyone by saying my thoughts. Please leave.” In the next moment he was gone and Eryn continued her walk back towards the main hall. She had last seen Cullen at a table by the large main stair. 

“Have a block of men scope out the farther corners to make sure there aren’t too many dangers.”

“Yessir.”

“Captain, make a checklist of supplies, we’ll need to make sure we have everything ready if the Inquisitor requests it.”

“Yes commander.”

“Wow. You run a tight ship.” Eryn said as she came up behind Cullen, listening as he barked orders. Her presence, however, was a surprise and he practically flipped the table in his surprise.

“Maker’s breath.” he turned and straightened his composure. “Lieutenant Dawson. What can I do for you?”

Eryn chuckled. “Commander mode never turns off does it? No no, I don’t mean it as a critique. Nakith does that too.” She assured him when he seemed a bit rebuffed. “I talked with Cassandra, however, she doesn’t believe she has time for training. It’s no big deal I just wanted to let you know-”

“I could train you. I mean . . . I have trained many recruits. We could schedule a time.” Cullen flushed, afraid he may have sounded a bit too eager. Eryn shook her head.

“Oh no. Far be it from me to be the one to force you to get less sleep than you usually do. Don’t give me that look. Even I’ve heard Cassandra and Leliana griping about it.” She crossed her arms. “I’ll be fine  _ Commander _ , no need to worry.”

“It’s really no trouble.” Cullen assured her, though he could feel the heat on his cheeks.  _ Damn gossips. _

“Cassandra said to ask if you had any  _ suggestions _ , I assume she meant aside from yourself. You’re the commander of the inquisition. That’s kind of a full time job.” Eryn said and sighed. “Look, I set up camp above the blacksmith. Let me know if you think of anyone.”

“The blacksmith?” He sounded appalled.

“Trust me. I slept next to a roaring engine and firing warp nacelles. The smithy is like home.”

***

Cullen was disconcerted by just how unsettled he was by Eryn Dawson. He thought that thinking of her as simply one of his recruits would help, but it didn’t. Her presence was both a balm and a burn all at the same time as she put him on edge but made him want to relax. Why? He couldn’t say. Perhaps it was her calm demeanor, or her friendly banter. Aside from the few who still insisted she was some kind of abomination, she was left alone and made friends with most of Miel’s inner circle. She was willing to talk about pranks with Sera, Vivienne had taken her on as her next ‘project,’ Josephine thought she could help with alliances, and even Cassandra was warming up to her as a tactician. Cullen, however, just felt very  _ aware _ of her. He could tell that she was uncomfortable when addressed by nobility with any sort of formality or mention of the “Herald’s protector” or “Andraste’s Mabari.” He could also tell that she didn’t quite meld into the crowd. She tried to fit in, but she was just different enough to draw attention to herself. He also noticed that she didn’t sleep, at least not regularly. On nights where he would be stuck in his drafty office looking over paperwork, he would see her wandering the battlements or walking around the courtyard. She never looked tired, but she also didn’t have a regular schedule.

It was on one particular night that he decided to confront it. She was sitting on the battlements, staring up at the sky, her legs swinging over the edge as if she did not fear the danger of falling. If she could hassle him about getting little sleep, he would do the same. Perhaps she was regretting her choice in accommodations and needed help finding new ones? There were plenty of open rooms, though most were in disrepair, they could be used.

Stretching from his hunched position, Cullen left his office and walked the battlements to where he had seen Eryn. Her back was to him as she stared intently at the sky. He wondered what she saw when she looked up at the stars and the moon. To them, they had a basic understanding that stars existed, they had constellations. They were light, according to some arcanists within the magisterium, but what did she see? With all her advanced knowledge and the things she had seen, did she see something completely different?

“Late night?” Eryn asked before he could even get a warning out about his presence. He sighed and shook his head.

“I should be asking you that.” He said, leaning against the battlement wall, crossing his arms over his chest plate. “You’ve been sitting out here for the last three nights. Is the smithy too warm?”

Eryn chuckled. “No, no. Just spending some time amongst something . . . familiar.” she sighed, seeming more relaxed on the edge of the wall than she ever did amongst the Inquisitor and his companions. “What, did I worry you?”

“Well, granted that you aren’t sleeping nearly enough . . .”

“Haha. Enough? Enough for whom, Commander?”

“Well, humans usually need at least 8 hours of sleep to be fully rested.” Cullen said simply.

“You should take your own advice, Commander. I don’t think you get nearly that much.” Eryn said, looking amused. “See, your logic is wrong, but you see, you all keep forgetting that I’m not human.” Cullen blanched slightly, startled but not surprised. Of course, she had explained that before. She was some kind of mix of races they had never heard of before. “I don’t need as much sleep as humans, I can stay awake for days with very little food or water. I am quite a bit stronger than a human as well, probably one of the reasons I was able to best your recruit back in Haven, and my mind is able to calculate a far greater amount of data. You have no need to worry about my well being.” She leaned back on her hand. “So, what are  _ you _ doing up? Last time I checked, you were human.”

“I . . . I’m just finishing up some paperwork.”

“Paperwork that must be done tonight?” Eryn asked.

“Preferably.”

“But not necessarily.”

Cullen sighed. “No, not necessarily. There are . . . other factors that come into play, I assure you I have it under control.”

Eryn didn’t even flinch when he snapped back at her involuntarily. She simply shrugged. “Of course, Commander. Though, I do know that those in command tend to run themselves ragged. Please forgive any . . . friendly concern.” She flashed him a smile that Cullen couldn’t help but feel weaken his knees. He hesitated a moment.

“If I may . . .” he said softly. “What are you looking at when you’re out here? Aside from the sky I mean.”

Eryn frowned. “I’m not sure how much you will understand, Commander.”

“Please, we’re technically off duty, well, I am. Call me Cullen. And I’ll try.” Eryn smiled.

“Okay . . . Cullen.” She looked back up at the sky. Cullen followed the slender curve of her neck to watch where she looked, towards a cluster of glowing spots along the dark expanse. “I’m used to living among the stars. At least from the last seven years or so. These may be different stars, but they are similar. See that, it’s a bluish color? That’s the  _ Godavari _ . I always make sure they’re in the sky. If they aren’t . . . then they would have crashed. They’re some of the only family I’ve got.” She sighed, looking down at her fingers as they intertwined. Hard metal against pale-green flesh. “No offense, but I just feel out of sorts here.”

“None taken. It’s understandable. Can you tell me anything else? About where you come from? About yourself?” He chanced to ask.

“I . . .” Eryn stopped herself. “I’m sorry. I don’t really feel comfortable talking too much about it. It’s not you it’s just . . . it’s a lot to try and put into context.”

“Again, I understand. It must be exhausting.” Cullen said and he stood up straight once more. “I hope you have a good night, Lieu . . . Eryn.”

Eryn smiled and nodded slowly. “You too, Cullen.”

***

It was a couple days before Eryn crossed paths with Cullen again. He was spending most of his time with his troops and any other open time he had went to coordinating repairs to Skyhold. So when Eryn found a slip of paper on her cot, which she had scuttled into a corner of the loft above Harritt’s shop, she was surprised to see that it was from Cullen asking or . . . ordering? . . . to meet with her. She frowned at the slip of paper with caution. She wasn’t able to read any of the languages of Thedas and she was pretty sure the U.T. didn’t work that way, not with paper and ink. But no one within the Inquisition would be able to write in a language she understood either. Eryn quickly stowed the note in her pocket before she left to find Cullen, taking the stairs down to the courtyard and searching for him where he normally trained.

She was intercepted by Vivienne on her way. “Ah, there you are, dear. Come now, we  _ must _ get proper measurements from you so you can stop dressing like a dusty hoodlum.” She chided in her usual tone that sounded nice but felt condescending. 

“What? I thought we already did that.”

“Yes yes, with a  _ Ferelden _ tailor. A friend from Orlais is on her way and will do  _ so _ much better with you.

Eryn scowled. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Simply that you have a unique figure and complexion. Saphi can do wonders with that!”

Eryn was then pulled into an annoying whirlwind of tape measures and pompous frills that soon cascaded into a meeting with Josephine where she learned about the areas of Thedas and was prepped for anyone she could potentially meet while in Skyhold. Eryn liked Josephine well enough, and she would be lying if she said that this world didn’t fascinate her, but it was a lot of information and the idea of herself being some sort of ‘ambassador’ or whatever didn’t help.

It was late by the time she finally got out of Josephine’s office and could head towards the battlements where Cullen had wanted to meet. She hadn’t been able to bring the strange note to anyone’s attention, so she made sure she had her phaser with her, just in case.

She found the spot where part of the battlement had crumbled completely and relaxed as she caught sight of that familiar blonde hair and furry mantle.  “Damn, Cullen. You worried me for a moment with that note. Where did you learn to write in Universal?” She asked and he turned, his hair darkening slightly and she flinched.

“You!” She hissed, grabbing for her phaser. “What the hell are you doing here?”

A sly chuckle escaped the man as his appearance shifted, a red starfleet uniform falling over his features. “Well, I will admit that I enjoy time with  _ mon Capitaine _ much more, but I couldn’t resist seeing the troublemakers create more of a mess.” He crossed his arms and leaned on the battlements. “You mortals and your strange concepts of time and space. This land is positively primeval compared to the little human starships in Starfleet.”

“You--”

“Ah ah Lieutenant. You should speak nicely to your Commander.”

“You aren’t a commander, Q. You’re a menace dressed in costume.” Eryn hissed. She had had a few run-ins with the omnipotent entity, and all of them had ended in disaster. And of course, everyone knew that he was the reason the Borg noticed humanity, because he insisted on playing a game with the  _ Enterprise _ and Captain Picard. Q just smirked at her, grinning from ear to ear.

“I can be whatever I want to be. Though it’s  _ you _ who should be worried. You are the one in quite the pickle.” He disappeared and then reappeared on her other side dressed in a sea-faring captain’s uniform. “Just look at you. Breaking all the rules, getting into large amounts of trouble. Not even  _ I _ would have thought to do that.”

Eryn glared and shoved him aside. “Go away! These people don’t need any more of your trouble, Q. Go bother someone else.”

“Oh no,  _ mon cherie _ , I think I’ll stay nearby for the time being. I do quite enjoy a good adventure.” In a flash of light he was gone and Eryn was left with the undeniable urge to destroy something.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Q is a character from Star Trek: The Next Generation. If you are not familiar, I promise more of an explanation will be provided in the next chapter. Or you can also look him up on Google. Probably the most fun and infuriating character in the Star Trek series.


	12. Arrangements

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A short chapter to set up events.  
> Eryn is pissed off because of Q.  
> Dorian and Eryn are totally bffs.

Miel returned from the Exalted Plains exhausted and covered in about five layers of demon ichor. His companions hadn’t fared much better, but they  _ had _ been able to help some of the people there as well as the Dalish clan near the river. The entire trip hadn’t been a failure, but he wasn’t about to make plans to build a vacation spot there just yet. They still had a few more rifts that needed to be closed and they had made sure to mark a place on their map where a bridge needed rebuilding, but decided to head back to rest and refuel. 

Skyhold was a sight for sore eyes. Granted, it still needed qutie a few repairs, but overall it was looking better and at least there were some clear pathways finally. Miel hoped that there would be an open bath some place where he could maybe scrape off a layer or two of the grime that had collected over the last couple of weeks. Cassandra and Cullen were at the gates almost instantly to meet them. “How have things been?” He asked towards them and Cassandra bobbed her head.

“Everything is in order, Inquisitor. Troops are fitting in well and we are gaining more supplies by the day.” Miel smiled. At least something could go right, even if it was a minor detail. He followed Cassandra and Cullen through the entry into the courtyard.

“Anything new to report that I should know? If not I’d really like to clean up.”

“We would like to have a meeting at the war table when you can, Inquisitor. But nothing of note has come up.” Cullen added and Miel nodded before he caught a glimpse of green above them.

“What is she doing up there? I thought that part of the battlements had been closed off for repairs.” Miel asked.

“Lieutenant Dawson was cleared once most of the structural work had been done. She has been acting . . . oddly lately.” Cassandra said, not sounding too pleased about that in the slightest. “She has, however, been putting Cullen’s troops through the ringer. She’s been learning how to use a broadsword.”

“I didn’t see her as the warrior type.” Miel commented and Cullen sighed.

“She’s . . . stronger than you would expect.” he muttered and the Inquisitor couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Alright. We’ll call a war meeting in a couple hours.” he decided, leaving to wander up to his quarters in hopes of a change of clothes, a bath, and a nap - not necessarily in that order. Cullen, on the other hand, sighed and looked to the Seeker standing next to him. He didn’t see Eryn descending the stairs from the side of the battlements. 

“Commander, Seeker Pentaghast.” She said simply, pulling at both of their attentions. Cullen had noticed a change in her mood lately, for the last week in fact. She seemed . . . tense. It was understandable given her position, but he had a feeling there was more going on. He had asked, but she assured him it was a personal matter that was being dealt with. “I was wondering if I could meet with you over the map that you have.” She said. There was the slight hum of static electricity that followed her around that put Cullen on edge.

“Of course.” Cassandra was the first to respond, “What is it you require?”

“I just got done talking with my Commander, Commander Nakith. The ship’s systems are starting to . . . well let’s just say they aren’t reacting well to the energy that first brought us here. They’ve done what they could, but need an engineer to really look into the problem. They need to find a place to land nearby so that I can take a look at it.”

“Wouldn’t a ship such as yours have a full compliment crew?” Cullen asked. Eryn looked slightly annoyed but quickly covered it up with a shake of her head.

“The  _ Godavari _ is a four-person ship, Commander. It has a Commander, a weapons and tactical specialist, a doctor, and an engineer. There isn’t a need for anyone else. Bohlran is good with machines but not nearly as good as me. But you are correct, most ships do have multiple personnel in one area.” Eryn looked to Cassandra. “I was hoping it would be alright for them to come near. Though it’ll probably cause a bit of a . . . buzz.”

“If they all look like you then I’m sure the nobles would be  _ thrilled _ .” Cassandra groaned and Eryn sighed.

“No. Actually they look nothing like me. Well, there is a resemblance with T’lek. But they definitely are not human. I can try to make it quiet, but that’s where a map comes in. If we can schedule a time and a place before the ship is in crisis mode, then we’ll be able to be as discreet as possible.” Eryn explained. Cassandra nodded.

“You and the Commander can work out a spot where your ship will not be noticed.” and Eryn nodded, watching the Seeker leave. Cullen wasn’t too sure if he was okay with the arrangement. He understood why this needed to happen, it was Eryn’s strange behavior that had him questioning the action. She seemed to be especially annoyed with him lately - whether it was intentional or not.

“Okay. Let’s see if we can work around one of the areas still in repair. That would be the best place to star-”

“Eryn.” Cullen stopped her with a hand to her shoulder and she turned. They hadn’t really spoken one-on-one since the battlements. “Are you alright?”

Her eyes narrowed. “What do you mean, Cullen? Of course I’m alright.”

“No. I mean how are you feeling? You’ve been acting strangely.”

“I assure you, Commander, that if anything happens that will affect your people I will let you know.” Eryn turned to start walking towards the main hall again but Cullen spoke before she could get too far away.

“I’m not asking as the Commander of the Inquisition’s armies, Eryn. I’m asking as a concerned friend. You’ve seemed off lately and my men say you haven’t been making training easy.” She grinned at that.

“You  _ told _ me not to go easy on them, Cullen.” But when he didn’t laugh back she sighed and a seriousness took over her face. “It’s really nothing, Cullen. Just . . . just a bad circumstance. It’s hard to explain. I’m fine. Just . . . tired. Tired and a bit frustrated.” She hesitated a moment. “I’ve been acting out towards you, haven’t I? I’m so sorry. My emotions they . . .”

“It’s alright, Eryn. I understand the stress of position. I just thought I, perhaps, did something to upset you.”

“No. No you didn’t, Cullen. It was someone else.”

“Anyone I should talk to?”

“No. It’s nothing serious. I promise, Cullen. Just something childish.” Eryn said and rubbed her metal arm with her right one. “Why don’t we take a look at that map, hm?”

***

Eryn sighed as she sat at the bar in the tavern listening to the bard by the fireplace and hearing the Iron Bull and his Chargers tell stories. Miel had made it pretty clear that she was welcome to join in when his companions had a relaxing ‘night off’ but she still wasn’t sure if she fit in with the group just yet. Observation was more her style than anything else. The door opened and she heard Miel’s voice almost instantly.

“Oh hell no!”

“What?” Dorian apparently had entered after him.

“They are not naming this place after me.” Miel said obtusely.

“Too late!” Bull bellowed and Varric laughed as their party sounded complete now, Eryn holding a mug of . . . some kind of alcohol in her hand. It didn’t really matter what kind it was anyway, just that the taste didn’t burn off her tongue. Another round of songs started up and a person sat down next to her. She didn’t look over at the individual as she assumed it was no one of great importance. That was why she was startled when the sophisticated voice of Dorian the mage spoke.

“Miel is too polite to say it, but what are you doing sitting way over here, when everyone else is over there?” He brushed a hand over his insanely styled mustache. If he and Miel weren’t a couple she would bet her arm that they would eventually. He made a face at her cup and lifted it without even asking and sniffed it. “What the hell are you drinking?”

“I don’t know. Just asked for something strong.” Eryn shrugged and the look he gave her was hard for her to read. She wasn’t sure if he looked shocked, disgusted, or impressed. She was assuming it was negative.

“That is unwise, dear.” Dorian said matter-of-factly, “I would suggest being more clear. Alcohol poisoning is a thing.” he added and watched her, though she tried to ignore it. “Come join us, everyone needs to relax.”

“I’m alright. You guys can have your fun. I’m not sure if I’m good company.” She said, not heeding his advice and taking another draw from her mug. Dorian shook his head and grabbed her arm with little preamble.

“Not getting out of it that easily.” he hoisted her up from her seat and she was yanked to a table in the back that was crowded with most of Miel’s companions and even more she hadn’t quite met yet. She could only assume that these were the crew Krem and the Iron Bull talked about. “Got her.” he shoved her in a chair and she barely had a chance to shoot him a derisive look.

“Nice job, Sparkler.” Varric said, a large mug in his hand and he grinned at her. Eryn sighed.

“So this was a group effort.”

“You need to let loose once in awhile. Come on, we’re nice people . .. mostly.” Miel said with a smile, earning him a slight jab from Dorian. “We’re telling stories. Do you have any?”

Eryn leaned back a little, all eyes on her and she suddenly felt self conscious. She could act as confident as the next person until the attention was on her. She was an engineer, she worked behind the scenes, she didn’t tend to work well with big crowds or lots of people. “I don’t know . . .”

“Come on Tips. Give us a good one.” Varric chided and Eryn sighed, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear.

“Okay, um  . . . well, there was this one time when my mom was working for the embassy . . .”


	13. Checkmate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dorian plots romance and Eryn anticipates the landing of the Godavari
> 
> Holy shit, I'm so sorry for the long wait guys. I started my senior year of college at the end of August and have had NO time to myself. I'm really trying to get chapters out there but it's difficult being an English paper doing research.

Dorian was bristling with the letter he was given. The gall of his father to even  _ think _ he would be willing to talk with a retainer. Luckily Miel was willing to go with him to handle all of this nonsense. But that was a worry for a later date. He was having much more fun watching Cullen fumble around their dear alien. She was a hard one to read, but it was obvious to the Tevinter that the Commander was smitten. 

He had been waiting in the grand hall after a particularly long war meeting for Miel. He was slowly teaching the Inquisitor how to play chess. But when Miel came out he looked about ready to fall over with exhaustion. Dorian sent him off to bed with a small pat on the hand and a kiss to his knuckles before setting his sights on the next person to leave the war room: the commander.

“Ah! There you are, just the man I wanted to see.” Cullen turned to him with a slight glare before he realized he was not being addressed by some haughty noble. “Do you, perchance, play chess?”

Cullen’s eyes seemed to brighten just slightly. “I do in fact.”

“Wonderful. I happen to have a game set up in the gazebo. Care to play? I was teaching Lavellan but he would have fallen asleep on the board.” Dorian said with a nonchalant wave of his hand. Cullen chuckled.

“It’s been awhile for myself.”

“Tish. It’s like riding a horse, it all comes back once you’re in the saddle.” Dorian led Cullen out to the garden where Lavellan had started growing some seeds he found on his quests and where mother Giselle frequently made rounds. Today, however, it was strangely empty of people.

Cullen soon found that Dorian was right. It had been a long time since he had played against anyone with any skill, perhaps longer than he’d originally thought, and it was nice to have a challenge that took the mind away from the Inquisition.

“You are quite skilled, Commander. I see where you have honed your leadership abilities.” Dorian complimented, moving a pawn inward.

“My sister always beat me and my brother. We practiced day and night to try and best her. Guess it comes in handy now.” Cullen said, his chin resting in his hand as he studied the board. His concentration was broken when Dorian shifted.

“Ah, Eryn. Come join us.” She had been walking through the garden with her device again. She was often distracted by that, saying she was collecting data, information. Cullen couldn’t help but notice her warm smile when she saw the two of them.

“Hi.” She walked over, pocketing her device. Thedas fashion looked very good on her, Cullen thought.  _ Wait. When did I start thinking things like that?! _ He panicked slightly and moved his knight. “Who’s winning?” she asked.

“It appears our Commander is skilled in many forms of combat. Do you play?”

Eryn chuckled. “I only know the rules for Tri-dimensional chess. It’s been forever since I’ve seen one like yours.”

“Tri-dimensional?” Cullen asked with mild concern.

“It’s got all the same pieces, more or less, just five tiers of play. There are six different platforms that the pieces move between as they promote in rank. It all sounds very convoluted when explained and often takes quite a bit to understand without an example.” She added. “I’d offer to show you but we don’t have one on the ship.”

“That sounds fascinating. Multiple boards . . .” Dorian muttered, thinking in a bit of an overdramatic fashion.

“Like I’ve said before, we tend to overcomplicate things.” Eryn said and watched as Dorian moved his queen. He deliberately moved it in front of Cullen’s path, he was purposely losing. “Dorian I...” She cut off her sentence when she saw brief movement to the corner. “If you’ll excuse me.” 

She walked off, confusing both Dorian and Cullen, but Dorian could still save the game. He had planned on losing to let her cut in, but with her departure, he would have to show the Commander of the Inquisition that he  _ was _ indeed rusty.

***

Eryn hated nobles. She hadn’t thought that she had any sort of problem with the upper class before, frankly she hadn’t really cared. Money wasn’t an issue in the federation and her parents always seemed rather happy with their station in life. That being said, she hated nobles. They seemed to be swarming into Skyhold even as repairs continued throughout the premises. Apparently word traveled fast about the Inquisitor and Herald of Andraste, and also about the Herald’s protector. She hated that Josephine didn’t try anything to stop the title from spreading. She understood the ambassador’s stance on wanting to use it to their advantage, but it was also very disconcerting.

“My isn’t your complexion  _ unique _ . I could never get such a color.” One masked individual, a woman?, commented. The way they spoke was jaded. It was almost like they were complimenting her while also insulting her at the same time. It seemed to be a technique that could be useful to try and learn.

Another masked noble, a man?, cut in. “And your hair. You  _ must _ send me the name of your stylist.”

Eryn tried to pull out of the conversation delicately. “I . . . apologize, Madam . . .”

“Bélanger. Lady Constantine Bélanger.” The woman corrected and Eryn felt slightly threatened, at least politically. That was laughable, they knew nothing about her.

“Ah . . . yes, my lady. Unfortunately I must go.”

“Nonsense, you must tell us  _ all _ about your family.” These, what were they called? Orlesians?, seemed to swarm around her by the second. One grabbed her arm.

“Uh . . . there’s not really much to tell.”

“Oh you  _ must _ .” The masked man insisted.

Eryn carefully extricated her arm and forced a smile that could make someone cringe if you stared at it too hard. “Really, I must . . .”

“Eryn. There you are.” Dorian swooped down out of nowhere but not without a relieved sigh coming from her. “Excuse me ladies and lords, we are in need of our dear friend here at an important meeting. Please excuse me.”

Dorian took her arm and led her through the crowd out of the main hall with a flourish and Eryn couldn’t help but applaud his timing. “Wow, a few more seconds and I think I would have been eaten alive out there. Thanks Dorian.”

“Oh, don’t thank me just yet,  _ mon cherie _ .” Eryn’s brow drew tight and she scowled.

“ _ You _ .”

“Now now, be kind. We’re in public.” They shifted into a more secluded room and “Dorian” flashed away into Q, starfleet uniform and all with dark brown hair and a mischievous smirk. “I did just save you from the mob.”

“Oh bite me you  _ K’pekt! _ ” She spat.

“Manners, manners.”

“I don’t like you getting your fingers in everything. Why are you even still here? I thought you would have gotten bored by now.” Eryn muttered the last sentence hopefully.

Q simply chuckled. “Oh, I have, but then I got pulled in again. It’s like a bad habit.” He sprawled dramatically into a chair in the side room. “I’m not causing any trouble.”

“Yet.” Eryn said, crossing her arms tightly. “I have a hard enough time explaining my  _ own _ existence to the people here. If you start popping up out of nowhere dressed like anyone they are going to go nuts! They’ll think you're some kind of demon or something.”

“Let them.” Q flashed white again and his form was changed to that of a hulking white figure with spikes coming out of every part of their body, seven glowing eyes like an arachnid, and claws. “Better?” His voice was warped, but it was still him.

Eryn scowled. “This isn’t some sort of game.” Q returned to his previous form.

“Life is a game, for the immortal. You  _ humanoids _ are so primeval. I would say you are barbaric, but i save that for these people in this absurd castle.”

“Not everyone can be all powerful, Q.” Eryn said in a biting retort.

“Heh, no no, that’s true. Living like that would be quite difficult. It’s hard to have any fun around people who know what you will do before you do it.” He grinned. A knock interrupted his next train of thought before he could speak.

“Lieutenant? Is everything alright? Someone said Dorian was seen pulling you away from a pack of Orlesians.” It was Cassandra and Eryn glared at Q as she responded.

“Yes, yes I’m fine. Just a moment.” She glanced at the door and then back towards her companion, but he was gone by the time she had. She sighed and went to open the door and smile at Cassandra. “Sorry about that, just getting my head back on straight. I didn’t cause any problems, did I?”

“No, no. We were just a bit concerned. We were sure Dorian was with the Inquisitor heading for Redcliffe. But the Nobles said it was him.” Cassandra explained and Eryn had the sudden urge to punch something, specifically Q.

“They must have been mistaken, it was one of the scouts, I guess from behind he could have looked like Dorian.” Cassandra didn’t look convinced.

“Are you sure?”

“Dorian’s with the Inquisitor, how on earth could he also be here?”

The Seeker didn’t seem to believe her words, but also didn’t fight the subject. “Commander Cullen and I were wanting to look over the landing sight you picked out for your ship to land. We want this done as quietly as possible, as you well know.”

“Right, right of course. I’m not doing anything now, I’d be more than willing to work out the details. We think nightfall would be the best idea, since it may cause a bit of a panic around Skyhold.”

Cassandra nodded as they walked back towards the main hall. “Agreed. The Inquisitor will be returning from Redcliffe in a day or two, he wished to be here when they arrived.”

Eryn nodded as well. “I’ll talk with Nakith. I think that should work just fine. Uh, I do apologize in advance for any . . . trouble.”

“Trouble?”

“Well, I mean we’re not the most rowdy crew, especially not compared to Bull’s Chargers, but we could cause a stir just because of . . . well . . .” she gestured to herself and Cassandra chuckled.

“We’ll deal with anything that may happen, Lieutenant. I assure you.” They walked the rest of the way towards the war room, but Eryn couldn’t help but get the feeling that having more aliens at Skyhold would be troublesome. T’lek was fine, but an Andorian and a Klingon? And they thought  _ she _ looked strange.


	14. Heart Ache and Maraas-Lok

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dorian met his father, the crew lands, and Eryn gets put against Bull in a drinking contest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I LIVE! Finally Christmas break has arrived and I pumped out a 4000 word chapter for you guys for being so patient. I hope to get quite a bit more written during this break before I start my last semester of college in January.
> 
> If you have any suggestions or things you'd like to see (either from dragon age or star trek) I'd be more than happy to hear any thoughts or suggestions!!

Miel was so proud of Dorian after Redcliffe and the meeting with the retainer that turned into a meeting with his father. He couldn’t even begin to imagine how Dorian was feeling and, even moreso, what he was thinking. They returned to Skyhold quietly, making sure that there wasn’t a fuss to cause more trouble. Tomorrow he would be going out with Eryn and some mages to oversee the landing of the _Godavari_. He would be lying if he wasn’t a little terrified and excited for this. Perhaps there was something within their technology that could help them with the Breach and stopping Corypheus.

After taking time to wash up after their ride back to Skyhold and change into a new pair of leathers, Miel went in search of Dorian. He found the mage in the library, which didn’t surprise him at all. Dorian was trying to deflect any concern that Miel had for him with humor and clipped words but Miel could see his discomfort. Then, Dorian told him how his father tried to change him with blood magic. The idea that a parent would even consider doing such a thing . . .

“I think you are very brave.” Miel said honestly, having grown to care very much for Dorian in a way he had never felt about anyone else before. And if he looked very carefully, he could maybe see the slight mist in Dorian’s eyes with his words.

“Brave. Heh. Only a select few would use that word.” Dorian said, taking small paces in his alcove in front of the window.

Miel smiled. “That’s what friends or for, right? We watch out for each other. Maybe . . . maybe even people who want to be more than friends. . .” he muttered the last sentence but knew it was heard. That telling grin on his face was enough for Miel to know that.

“Well. That is a very interesting proposition coming from someone of your position. We may need to explore this further at a more convenient time.” He said and his dazzling grin and the way he cocked out his hip at Miel made the elf fight to suppress a shudder.

 _Dammit you attractive bastard_ . Luckily Dorian could not read his thoughts or Miel would have to be much, _much_ , more careful with what went on in his head. Even without the ability to read his mind, Miel was pretty sure Dorian could read him like an open book. He would have to get some lessons from Bull on being more subtle. Feeling a warmth on his face, Miel decided to change the subject.

“I’m going out with Eryn tonight to meet her ship and all that. I wanted to bring a few mages with, just in case we encounter anything weird.”

Dorian chuckled. “And you want me to come along?”

“Well, we do lack severely in the devastatingly handsome department.” Miel said nervously but matching Dorian’s chuckle. “Perhaps if we run into trouble we can just charm it away.”

“Wonderful plan, Inquisitor. Perhaps all we need is a gaggle of Tevinter mages to flash their smiles at Corypheus and he’ll shrivel in fear.”

Miel genuinely laughed with just the pure image of Corypheus being hurt by smiles. Though he had to admit, Dorian’s smile _was_ pretty devastating. It made his knees weak every time and the sad thing was, he really liked it.

“I’d be honored to escort the _Inquisitor_ to meet the strange aliens from above. But, perhaps we could get a drink first. Maybe two after today.”

Miel nodded. “The Herald’s Rest has some really good stuff hidden in the back thanks to Varric. I’m pretty sure we could get access to some.”

Dorian wrapped an arm around the elf’s lithe shoulders. “My my, dear Lavellan, you _are_ devious.” And the heat that radiated off the mage made Miel want to forget about the tavern and just drag the both of them up to his room.

Of course, Varric grinned as he saw the two leaving Solas’ rotunda and stepping into the main hall. They wove between Orlesians and other visitors as best as they could, though it was impossible for Miel to wander about without getting recognized and pulled from his original task. Miel tried to avoid going through the main hall if he could, usually using the battlements to travel from one place to the other to get some peace and quiet every once in awhile, but sometimes it was just faster to cut through the crowd and hope he could move fast enough.

By some chance of fate, or perhaps Dorian’s slight scowl at anyone nearby, they made it to the Herald’s rest without incident. Bull called them over to his group with the Chargers happily. Maryden was singing near the fire and there were many people relaxing and laughing around them. It was a nice sight and Miel instantly felt his muscles loosen just a little bit from their near constant state of anxiousness.

“Boss!” Bull’s booming voice called from across the room, a grin lighting up his face. “Come on! Have a drink. You too ‘Vint.” Miel couldn’t help but chuckle as they weaved their way through the crowd, looking to see if any of his other companions were around. He saw Sera sneaking about out of the corner of his eye and Blackwall was sitting back with a few fellows he had come to drink with.

“So boss.” Bull said, drawing the elf’s attention back to the company he was sitting with. “Heard you were taking up a small group to meet Eryn’s weird ship-thingy.”

Miel grinned. “I am. Are you trying to get a piece of it?” Bull laughed, shaking his head.

“Just keeping up on the gossip.”

“You hardly need _my_ help to do that, Bull.”

“Heh heh, you’re right. Guess I’m just curious on what you expect.” He cocked an eyebrow at the elf.

Miel thought back on the few details Eryn had given them so far. He hadn’t thought that far ahead. About meeting this ‘crew’, seeing this ship, and everything else that could entail. She assured him that it was all safe and secure, but there would always be a part of Miel that left him hesitant. There were just so many questions that surrounded the alien girl and her strange views and understandings.

“I guess . . . I’m expecting to discover something new.”

Bull laughed heartily. “I’ll drink to that, Boss!”

***

Varric, Bull, and Dorian stood in the courtyard waiting for Miel to show up so they could leave with Eryn. While they waited, they watched as an argument ensued between Cullen and Eryn, taking bets on who would throw the first punch. All bets were on Eryn.

“Cullen. We do _not_ need an army!” Eryn said with a slight glower at the Inquisiton’s commander. She had barely been able to sleep for the last few days, not that it mattered much to her. Though it wasn’t always excitement that left her anxious but the worry. She worried for how this would affect Thedas and the people living there. It was one thing to have one stranger traipsing around all over the place, it was another to have four. But she meant what she told, Cullen, they didn’t need an army of his templars trampling into the clearing at midnight over the _Godavari_.

Cullen pinched the bridge of his nose as horses were being tacked up. “It’s a precaution, Eryn. To make sure the Inquisitor is safe.”

“Oh, so you expect trouble?”

“I’m not sure what to expect!”

“It’s three people, Cullen! _My_ people. They won’t hurt you. Unless you’re expecting more of those demon things, you don’t need soldiers following us. I wouldn’t have anyone if I didn’t respect the Inquisition’s position here.” Eryn snapped.

“See it from my point of view, Eryn. I need to protect the people of the Inquisition. Without the Inquisitor, Thedas is doomed. It would be irresponsible for me to not take precautions.”

“Fine. You can bring a few with, but not an army. I don’t need my friends, my _Commander_ , to feel threatened.” Eryn said sharply and sighed. “I’m not saying they would, but out of anyone, Nakith would feel the need to defend the _Godavari_ and her crew. We don’t need that as another stressor.” She added in explanation. She looked up just in time to see Cullen nervously rubbing at the back of his neck. She caught onto the fact that it was a nervous habit and, dammit, it was slightly endearing.

“Oh, Curly’s got it bad.” Varric muttered and Dorian chuckled, watching the interaction.

“Blackwall owes me ten gold.” he said with a grin.

“I’ll keep it small.” Cullen promised softly and Eryn smiled just a little.

“Okay. Good. Oh, and . . . Cullen, they’re not like me. I mean, they are in a sense but . . . they don’t _look_ like me. Like you and Solas or Bull don’t look alike we’re different and--”

“Ready?” Miel said as he hopped down from the stairs to meet his companions. Eryn felt the buzz of excitement and missed the look of concern and adoration Cullen had been giving her when she wasn’t paying attention.

“Ready.”

Miel nodded and called the companions to saddle up and get on their mounts. Eryn decided to walk rather than ride and Bull had a hard time finding a mount for his size, so he took up the rear. Eryn kept contact with Nakith as much as she could as they walked and near the back of the group Miel’s companions were guessing.

“So, what do you think it’s like?” Dorian muttered.

“She said it’s a ship. Sails maybe?” Bull grunted.

“You saw the thing she came in. I doubt it’ll be like any kind of vessel we’ve seen.” Varric added.

“Maybe a Qunari battleship then. Metal and fire power.”

“Knowing her,” Dorian said, “we couldn’t possibly guess.”

They traveled for close to fifteen minutes until they got to a clearing outside of Skyhold that was secluded and big enough for the _Godavari_.

“Okay, Nakith, are you in position?” Eryn spoke through her comm-badge.

_“Ready. Our stabilizers are malfunctioning. Give us a berth.”_

“Got it.” Eryn looked to Miel. “Move back a little. It may be a bit . . . bumpy.” And it was only a few moments later that a loud _thunk_ hit the ground with a shake and the cloaking device flickered out. Eryn heard the sound of metal scraping together, as people armed themselves and readied for some kind of attack--or perhaps they were just scared out of their pants.

“Shiiit.” Bull muttered from the back and Eryn couldn’t help but smile. She knew it would have been useless to try and prepare them for what they would see when the modified runabout landed, it was better if they just saw for themselves. The side cabin door hissed open as the cabin depressurized and Eryn barely held her composure as she saw a flash of blue and the shadow of someone distinctly Klingon.

“Rocky landing?” she called out and she heard a curse yelled back at her in response. Probably Bohlran. Eryn heard the audible gasp that erupted behind her as Nakith, Bohlran, and T’lek appeared from the opening. They all wore their uniforms that matched hers, just different colors with Nakith and T’lek’s red and Bohlran’s blue. Though, she highly doubted it was the uniforms that shocked them.

T’lek was a Vulcan, he looked like her sans the green skin and the good sense of humor. Nakith’s skin wouldn’t be as much of a shock with her dark brown, though the deep ridges on her forehead that swept to the top of her skull would. Especially with her bat’leth hooked to her back. Then, of course, Bohlran, the Andorian with the sky blue skin and antennas on the top of his head followed with white hair tied back to keep it out of his eyes. Maybe she _should_ have warned them a little bit better. Eryn was just glad that they seemed to all be doing alright.

“Commander.” she gasped and Nakith frowned.

“Drop the formalities, Eryn. _qaleghqa’mo’ jlQuch_.”

Without preamble, without any other words, Eryn rushed to Nakith and jumped into her embrace. She hadn’t realized how much she had missed the Klingon until just now when she saw her friends and realized just how lonely she had been. She had come to like and even befriend people here in Thedas, but that kind of friendship is completely different compared to what she can have with people who _understand_ what she’s talking about. Who don’t look at her like she’s crazy or grown a third head. These three crew mates were her family.

It was only after the hug ended that Eryn was reminded that the Inquisitor was watching the whole display. She smiled sheepishly and looked to Miel and his group, still armed in case of trouble. She could understand, but it also felt a little intimidating. “Oh, uh . . .” she straightened her stance and saw the slight amusement on Dorian and Bull’s faces and the slight bafflement on Cullen’s. “Okay. Guys, this is the Inquisition. Miel Lavellan. Commander Cullen. Dorian Pavus. Varric Tethras, Iron Bull--”

“ _The_.”

“ _The_ Iron Bull, sorry, and a few of their men. Miel is the Inquisitor. Miel, this is Commander Nakith Vrorc of the _Godavari_. Her first officer, Commander T’lek, and science officer lieutenant Bohlran.” She introduced, not sure where this was all going to go after that.

Luckily Miel knew what to do. “It is a pleasure to finally meet you all.” his face was neutral, not betraying what he was truly thinking too evidently. “Eryn has told us a lot about you.” Eryn could tell he was trying to be nice and it was almost comical.

Eryn could see the rest of the crew sizing up the Inquisitor and his companions. She just hoped they didn’t become too vocal about their opinions right away. It’s not like Eryn thought they would say anything inherently bad, but they may make observations that would be less than pleasing to others. This was why other captains were in charge of first contact situations.

“It is good to meet you as well. We appreciate the help you have given to Eryn. With all the hassle it must have been and all.” The Klingon said as T’lek was sending Eryn a hard stare, judgmental as always.

“And everything she’s told you.” He muttered and Nakith hissed.

“T’lek. Enough.”

“If Starfleet heard what she did--”

“They won’t.” Eryn gasped hastily.

“And how much it’s already--”

“Commander!” Nakith said firmly, eyes blazing as she looked over her shoulder. “Enough. We will discuss this later.” Her tone was firm, the one she used as acting captain. The one she used with starfleet officials.

Bull cleared his throat, no doubt the whole display was awkward and they wanted to move forward. Miel seemed to be on the same page. “We’d love to be able to talk more and trade notes if you can. With the Breach closed I’m assuming you’re still looking for a way out. We have plenty of room at Skyhold.” he insisted.

“Commander, we can’t leave the _‘Vari_ out here in the open.” Bohlran said softly.

“That’s simple,” Eryn said. “Cloak it and we can come back later and move it somewhere closer if we can find one.” Her tone was matter-of-fact, but Bohlran didn’t seem comforted by this.

“Yeah, well . . .” Bohlran’s antennas shifting slightly. He sighed. “We won’t be taking off any time soon.”

Eryn turned on him in a flash. “What do you mean--. What did you do to my ship!?” She gasped, looking up at the _Godavari_ to check for any blemishes.

Bohlran raised his hands. “Hey. It was the entry. It charred the warp nacelles, our stabilizers are off, and she needs a tune-up something bad. I could only do so much. She won’t be getting off the ground for a while yet.” Eryn scowled.

“Fine. Fine! Put a cloak on her and we’ll come back. Gah . . . how in the hell are we supposed to get parts...” she grumbled, crossing her arms as Nakith sighed.

“We would be greatly appreciative of your hospitality.” She said to Miel, who nodded. He could see the tensions around the four and couldn’t help but be curious at the causes. T’lek cloaked the ship and Eryn walked in the back with her crew, following the horses. She hated the stale feeling in the air around them. Why did things have to be so tense? She knew why of course, T’lek was always going to follow all the rules, he would always have a problem with their methods. Bohlran was a mediator, and Nakith was trying to captain a ship of four who didn’t necessarily follow rules well. She could hear Bull’s laughter at the front of the party and feel Nakith’s gaze at her back.

“Yes, Commander?”

“Oo, _Commander_ now.” Nakith jabbed and walked beside her. “What’s going on, Eryn? You’re even more emotive than normal.” Eryn sighed.

“Nothing much, ‘Kith. I promise.”

“Well that’s a pit of _Gagh_ if I ever heard it.” She whispered, keeping their conversation private from most of those around them. “And I know it’s not just the _Godavari_. She may be your baby, but she doesn’t get you this ruffled.”

“Ugh.” Eryn groaned softly, looking up at the sky momentarily. “Fine. It’s a lot of things. T’lek, for one. No doubt I’ll get court martialed if I ever get back to Starfleet. They’ve just been waiting for me to screw something up big enough to do that. Then trying to fix the ship. Then everyone calling me some time of Religious Mabari or whatever it’s supposed to be. They all stare at me like I’m some kind of freak or entity. Not to mention how they’ll react to you and then there’s Cu--”

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“ _Qi-yah_! Is that a blush?”

“Wha? What no.” Eryn sputtered quietly, looking away from the Klingon. “Just . . . it . . . would you believe me if I said it was too warm?”

“No. One, you’re a vulcan. Two, there’s snow.” Eryn knew the excuse wouldn’t work, but it was worth a shot. “There’s no way that is flush from heat. What’s going on?”

“It’s nothing! Seriously. Can’t we talk later?”

“We can talk now.” Nakith said. “Or I could ask your new friends--”

“No!” Eryn hissed. She groaned. “Is there _any_ way I can get you to drop it til later?”

A mischievous grin spread across Nakith’s face. “Well . . . perhaps you can.”

“What do you need?”

“Heh. You’ll just have to see.” She said in that tone of voice that left a nervous feeling in Eryn’s stomach.

***

After the _Godavari_ crew were brought into Skyhold as subtly as they could be and given another room near Eryn’s, Nakith ferreted her away. “So where can we get some good drinks? All we had on the ship was sythehol and after all of this, I need a _stiff_ drink.” Nakith hooked her arm around Eryn’s.

“Well, the only place I know of in Skyhold is The Herald’s Rest.”

“Sounds grand. Let’s go.”

“Kith. No no Nakith.” Eryn gasped, scared of how people would react to her appearance. Though, to be honest, if Qunari weren’t too scary for them, perhaps a Klingon wasn’t too far off.

“You owe me for not asking people about you and _someone_.” she said in a sing-songy tone and flashing a sharp-toothed grin.

“Ki-ith.” She gasped pitifully as Nakith tugged her along and burst into the tavern. There was quite a crowd still there at the late hour, and they all turned when the door opened and the two strangers burst in. They stared, a few gasped, and the music stopped. Eryn felt her blood run cold at the attention that was drawn. Nakith took it in stride.

“Ah. There he is.” She made a straight line towards where Bull and the Chargers were. Bull grinning at them.

“Nakith! Commander.” Eryn gasped as she was pulled along, more people watching  though Maryden began singing again once they were out of sight. Nakith walked up to the Bull and finally let go of Eryn to put her hands on her hips.

She grinned. “You willing to settle a little bet I have with my Lieutenant? You seem like the type of guy.”

“Commander.” Eryn gasped as Bull chuckled.

He was used to making fun of Krem, it was interesting for him to see Eryn and Nakith interacting in the same way. And he would be lying if he wasn’t just slightly turned on by someone he could tell was a “warrior woman”-type. The weapon on her back helped too. “Depends on the bet.” he said with a charismatic voice.

Nakith grinned and Eryn felt all the eyes in the Tavern on her. It didn’t help that when she looked up she saw that Miel and all of his companions were in The Herald’s Rest and she regretted all of her decisions.

“I bet Eryn that she could drink anyone in this place under the table. You up for the challenge.”

“Nakith!” Eryn hissed, grabbing her Commander’s arm tightly. A crowd of Miel’s companions was starting to grow. She could hear Sera cackling from her spot on the second floor.

Bull squinted before he gave a full belly laugh. “You’re joking right?”

“A drinking contest? Tips hasn’t drank anything more than one Antivan Brandy since she got here.” Varric said, a bit of worry underneath his incredulous voice.

“Nakith.” Eryn grabbed her and pulled her into a corner near an empty table, whispering to her. “Nakith, this is a bad idea. What if T’lek finds out?”

“It’s fine. I want to see some fun. We do this all the time. Remember Deep Space 9? Great times!”

“That’s with people who relatively know about Vulcans and Orions. These people don’t know anything about that. You’re taking advantage of it.” Eryn gasped. “If Admiral Haggard found out...”

“He won’t. We’ll set ground rules. T’lek stops by, which he _won’t_ , come on, Eryn. He’s a stick in the mud.” Eryn sighed. She knew Nakith was just trying to gain some sense of normalcy again between them, it was strange to have her Commander back.

“Fine. Fine. Whatever. Have your fun. But _he_ gets to choose the alcohol. And if we get to ten drinks we stop no matter what, understand?”

Nakith nodded. “Fine fine. So. We’ve got a crowd.” The Klingon looked over her shoulder and Eryn flushed when she saw Cullen looking at her with concern and she ducked her head.

“Ugh, you are such a.  . .”

“You love me.”

“Yeah, whatever.” Nakith pulled her back over and forced her into a chair.

“Okay. Worked out details.” Nakith said, flashing her pointed teeth and Bull instantly looked a little more intrigued. “You against Eryn. You can choose your poison.” Bull quirked an eyebrow and looked to Eryn.

“You’ve got balls, Girl.” He said.

Eryn looked to him. “I agreed to this. It’s between Nakith and me. So you in?”

“Cabot!” Bull shouted over towards the bar, catching almost the whole tavern’s attention. “Break open the _Maraas-Lok_!”

“The what?” Eryn looked concerned.

 

The first drink burned Eryn’s throat, it tasted horrid, and she felt more of a stomach ache than anything else. Bull seemed rather pleased with himself but after a few drinks he seemed to get a little more . . . relaxed? She wouldn’t say he was tipsy but definitely affected. It was around the fifth mug that concerned words started to float around. Eryn was worried her nerves were permanently damaged from the searing burn of this . . . whatever it was alcohol. She jumped when Bull slammed his mug down.

“Okay Kid. I’m calling bullshit.” He said, watching her. He had been curious if she wasn’t really drinking but there was no way she could trick him that easily.

Eryn groaned, pushing the cup away and leaning back in her chair. “Nakith. This was your _fantastic_ idea.” she muttered. She felt a little ill, maybe she would actually vomit up her stomach so she could die before embarrassment kicked in.

Nakith was grinning from ear to ear. “I thought she would have told you by now.” She leaned over Eryn’s chair, her arm around her shoulders. “Vulcans aren’t affected by alcohol. Eryn doesn’t get drunk.”

Bull stopped for a moment, watching Eryn. Sera’s cackle was the only thing Eryn heard for a moment before Bull laughed as well.

“You got me good. I’m surprised. Not many people can fool me but . . . good one.” He said with a soft chuckle and Eryn groaned.

“Of course you’d enjoy it.” she whispered only to hear him laugh again and she stood up.

“Okay, Nakith. You’ve had your fun now I--” she turned and nearly slammed right into Cullen’s armored body. He looked concerned and her face flushed.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” He asked, putting an hand on her arm and she was again completely aware of everyone around them. He looked so worried. Nakith probably found it hilarious, well, she would have if she wasn’t teasing Bull and tasting some of the _Maraas-Lok_ for herself.

“I’m fine. Just a little sick to my stomach. I’ll be okay.” Eryn said softly.

Cullen rubbed his neck and looked down at her shyly. “Uhm . . . perhaps you would . . . like an escort to your room?” Eryn smiled. She could tell he didn’t know if she really was okay or not. She guessed it was a big deal to all of them since Dorian and Varric also looked concerned.

“If it would make you feel better. But I assure you I’m fine.” Eryn ducked out of the tavern with Cullen following her. And she wasn’t sure if it was just her awareness of her surroundings or not, but she could have sworn she felt his hand on her lower back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> qaleghqa’mo’ jlQuch - "I'm glad because I see you again" in Klingon  
> Gagh - A Klingon dish served alive  
> Qi-yah! - basically "Holy Shit!" in Klingon
> 
> Vulcans do not process alcohol the same way as others so they do not get drunk that way, though Eryn obviously isn't 100% afterwards. Her stomach's not happy. But she can get drunk from other things and I will be including that in later chapters. I thought some fun shenanigans were in order ;)
> 
> I am much more active over on my tumblr if you'd like to connect there:  
> Main blog: http://thunderscape-7.tumblr.com  
> Art/Fanfic blog: http://thunderscape-doodles.tumblr.com


	15. That's an Order

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some crew interactions and silliness

“If we have a plan for your trip to the Emerald Graves, Inquisitor, perhaps we should move on to Halamshiral.” Josephine mentioned at the morning war room meeting with his advisors. Miel had gotten used to the early mornings with Leiliana, Josephine, and Cullen discussing their plan of attack for the upcoming events or locations that he would be interacting with. He was glad that they had at least stopped bickering for the most part. It was nice that they had finally worked out a system and relationship between them.

Miel nodded at the suggestion. There wasn’t much else to discuss at this point. He would be leaving for the Emerald Graves within the next few days--bringing Solas, Varric, and Blackwall--and nothing else was really causing any problems. “That’s in the next two months. Has Empress Celene responded to any of our communications?”

“No. Something is interfering with my ravens.” Leiliana answered. “I am working on finding the cause through my scouts.” she said, looking down at a few markers on the large map that resided on the massive table in the center of the room. Miel liked that this room at least had windows and a more open feeling. The one in the chantry in Haven felt like a dungeon. “Josephine and Lady Vivienne have contacted Monsieur Palle from Val Royeaux to come with a few of his seamstresses to make the uniforms. We want to make a unifying impression of the Inquisition in front of all the elite at Halamshiral.”

Miel nodded, already knowing that they would be making all the plans for the uniforms and for his companions as they attend the ball in Orlais. It wasn’t a surprise that Josephine and Vivienne would be heading that front and making sure that everyone looked perfect and put together, especially when his group of companions consisted of mages, templars, a dwarf, elves, and a massive qunari. If they wanted each person to wear the same uniform they would need some master clothing maker to fit every body.

“There was also another matter that Leiliana and I wanted to discuss.” Josephine added, looking up from her clipboard. “News from Skyhold has spread across Ferelden and Orlais, especially with Eryn and her friends arriving. I believe it would be in our best interests to have Eryn attend.”

Miel had not expected that curve ball, and from Cullen’s intake of breath, the commander hadn’t been expecting it either. “I appreciate your position Josephine, but . . . are you sure that is such a good idea? Eryn is . . . uh, well . . .”

“I am aware that she is unorthodox, Inquisitor.” Josephine replied. “But she is also a spectacle.”

“You’re talking about making her a distraction?” Cullen asked in disbelief. “You can’t be serious.”

“Like it or not, we will need to be working against the clock to protect the empress and figure out who is trying to threaten her life. We can’t do that if the court is focused on you, Inquisitor. However, if Eryn is there, she can draw the attention away just enough to allow you time to proceed with the investigation without causing a stir among the nobility. Especially if we can keep up the image that Thedas as created for her.” Leiliana countered with her calm and measured tone. She always was rational, especially when creating plans of attack or espionage.

Miel sighed. “What has Eryn said about this?”

“She has not been asked.” Josephine said softly. “We were hoping either yourself or the Commander could bring it up to her before you leave for the Emerald Graves. You both have closer associations with her.”

Leiliana nodded. “And while you are away in the Emerald Graves, we can help Eryn learn what she will need at the Winter Palace. No doubt it will be a bit of a change for her to undertake if she agrees.”

“And if she doesn’t?” Miel asked. “What if she refuses?”

Josephine looked to Leiliana briefly, he could seek the silent question that moved between them. Leiliana answered.

“Then we shall come up with something else. We can discuss that when we do eventually get an answer from her. Until then, all we can do is keep planning ahead for what we do know.”

Miel nodded. “Alright. Then I guess we’re dismissed.

***

“Out of the question.” Eryn said sharply.

“Eryn please,” Miel pleaded. “Just give this a chance.”

“No. no way. I’ll help you do a lot of things, but I will not go to some high class, foreign affairs party to be gawked at.” She said, turning away from him. It had been easy enough to find her near the smith trying to work out something about her ship that she was trying to fix.

“We know, but there is a purpose to it. We--”

“I think you should do it.” Nakith whispered in the room that the crew seemed to be inhabiting to maintain a low profile. Eryn spun on her commander in shock, she did not look pleased with this interjection.

“What? Nakith you can’t be serious.” She gasped.

Nakith shrugged. Miel couldn’t help but realize how much like Bull she seemed with her relaxed attitude and perceptive nature. “We’re stuck here, Eryn. The best thing to do in this situation is to stay on the good side of the locals and make friends.”

Both Eryn and T’lek answered on top of one another.

“But ‘Kith--”

“Commander I must object.” T’lek said firmly, standing stock straight with his arms behind his back. He looked like he was serving in the army and under the scrutiny of his general with the way his angled eyebrows seemed to push closer to his eyes and crease on his forehead. “This is highly unwise given the Lieutenant’s situation here already.”

Eryn scowled at the man. Miel observed that he had very similar facial features to her. Aside from the darker green of her skin, he had the same ears and arched brows and angular features. They didn’t seem to get along well, though. “ _Thanks_ T’lek. Very helpful. Anyway--”

T’lek didn’t seem to take the hint to shut up and continued to speak. “You are already in enough trouble as it is. Look at what you have done already. Not only have you completely disregarded the prime directive, but you have altered their chain of events to possible catastrophic levels. The last thing that needs to be done now is more complications. You are not even supposed to _be_ sent on ground missions. I must protest this plan.”

Nakith and Eryn both looked annoyed with the man who either didn’t notice or didn’t care about the reaction his words gave. Miel was confused by what he meant specifically. “Thank you, T’lek for your kind words of encouragement.” Eryn hissed. “I did what I had to do using my best judgement. There was no point in pretending to be something else when they had already seen enough to complicate things. Besides, there’s no guarantee we’ll actually get home.” She turned to Miel. “No offense, but I’m not the best person to make an impression on your elite. Nakith and Bohlran are the better diplomats. I’m just an engineer.”

“To be completely frank, Eryn,” Miel answered, looking between the four of them. “You seem to be able to fit in better here with us. And since word about your presence has already spread to Ferelden and Orlais, it would be easier to explain your attendance than some complete stranger.”

“Yeah,” Bohlran finally spoke up. “Explaining a bright blue guy with antennas would probably cause more problems. And Nakith? No offense Commander, but you tend to be brash.”

Nakith snorted. “T’lek is the diplomat and he consistently has his head up his own ass with his Vulcan mumbo-jumbo.” she waggled her fingers and grinned at the grumpy-looking vulcan to her right.

Eryn sighed from where she stood beside Miel, pinching the bridge of her nose. “I hate to say that I agree with T’lek, but I agree with him. This is a bad idea. I’m not a fan of being a distraction and I haven’t been to a _dance_ since I was ten.”

Miel groaned before slyly saying: “Perhaps Cullen should have done this instead.”

Eryn stiffened slightly. “That would not have made a difference.”

The biggest shit-eating grin spread across his face. “Oh, right, of course it wouldn’t have. I can go get him if you want.”

A florescent green blush spread across Eryn’s face and Nakith was having a hard time keeping her face passive. She slapped Eryn on the back and grinned.

“Lieutenant. You are going to that ball, dance, thingy to help the Inquisitor. No more discussion, that is an order.”

“But . . . Nakith I--” Eryn blanched and sighed, hanging her head into the palm of her hands. “Fine. Fine. Yes, Commander. I’ll go. Ugh. Come on you, I need a stiff drink.” she said, grabbing Miel’s arm and pulling him out of the room as he snickered.

“I thought you didn’t get--”

“Drop it.”

It was only once they were out into the main entry that she let go of his arm and groaned. “I’m . . . sorry you had to witness that.” she whispered, her annoyed demeanor gone and she seemed calmer. “That was _not_ how we should have handled that situation. We’ve all been kinda tense lately.”

“It’s fine. You should have seen Cullen and Leiliana at first. Gods, they were at eachother’s throats sometimes.” Miel said with a chuckle before looking to her. “What was he talking about? Are you in some kind of trouble for helping us?”

“I . . .” Eryn hesitated. She had been forthcoming with information, but that didn’t mean she was making every little thing known. Just the important things. She figured that if she ever did get back to Federation space, they wouldn’t have any idea anyway. “Well, Commander T’lek wasn’t wrong. If and when we return to our organization, I will more than likely be demoted and probably suspended from duty for a lengthy amount of time.” she looked to the elf and saw Dorian stepping into the room, no doubt looking for him. “It is in no way your fault, Miel. I made the decision. We follow rules that dictate who we can and can’t interact with. Technically, because you do not have the ability of space travel, we should not have even entered your atmosphere, let alone landed. But there were extraneous circumstances and we had no other choice. We’ve never dealt with anything like the Breach before. I could also be punished for my interference with your Inquisition and giving you aid. You see, we fear altering the events on another planet. My interaction with all of you could have _possibly_ made some sort of change, but that is difficult to distinguish. Basically . . . T’lek is right in his worry about all of this, and I’m sure he’s writing a full report for Admiral Haggard, but it’s honestly nothing to worry about.” she assured him. Miel didn’t look to sure. His pointed ears drooping slightly as she watched his expression shift.

“Are you . . . ?”

“ _Amatus_.” Dorian said as he came up behind the elf and Eryn smiled when she saw the kiss placed on his temple. “Where have you been? I was expecting you earlier.”

“Dorian.” Miel gasped, his eyes instantly brightening as he hugged his newly established boyfriend. “Josie sent me to get Eryn to come to the Winter Palace with us.” he explained and the look that crossed Dorian’s face was happy but also felt a little ominous.

“My my.” he looked to Eryn. “Mm, yes. We can do a lot with you. I must start talking with them concerning what you will wear.” Miel chuckled as Eryn looked about ready to protest but held her tongue. “Hmm, you would look good in black, oh, but gold is also good. Hm, and what to do with your hair. Yes. This will be a wonderful challenge.”

“Should I be concerned?” She whispered to Miel. Dorian laughed heartily.

“The only concern you should feel is whether you’ll stop our poor Commander’s heart when he sees you.”

“I . . . why does everyone keep bringing him up?” She huffed, though the blush on her face was clear. This caused Dorian to laugh a little harder.

“Please! We all see the glances and the blushing. You both are so shy it’s almost painful, honestly.” He explained and Eryn looked even more flustered.

“You . . . you think _I_ . . . no. No no. We just . . .  I mean, I . . .”

“Oh, _lath_ , look what you did.” Miel chided to a chortling Dorian.

“Just like our dear Commander.” he shook his head thinking about how hopeless both Cullen and Eryn were in the realm of love and feelings. It was obvious there was something growing between the two but they would never ever admit it. Perhaps they simply needed a push.


	16. Sparks Fly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The story moves on and our hesitant love birds get a teensy bit closer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some image references for this chapter are inserted at the end of the chapter. If anything is unclear, don't hesitate to ask for clarification.

After shoving a cloak over Bohlran’s shoulders and securing the hood in place, Eryn dragged the Andorian out of Skyhold and into the wooded clearing where they had hidden the _Godavari_ . Bohlran was not bothered by the cold temperatures around them and, instead, was miffed by the early hour in which they set out. “Explain _why_ we're leaving before the sun has fully risen?” he mumbled, carrying his small pack that he always had with him--usually full of medical supplies.

Eryn sighed, not stopping as she spoke, still refusing to wear much in terms of restrictive winter gear. “One: I couldn't sleep. Two: I don't think it's a good idea to be letting Inquisition people too close to the _'Vari_. Too much to process and all that.”

“Plus T’lek would probably have an aneurysm.”

“That too.” Eryn added dryly. “So, I wanted to get a head start on it. And since _you_ fucked up my run-about, you get to help me fix it.”

“And by help you mean...?”

“Learn what you did _wrong_.”

Bohlran groaned. “Dammit. Eryn I'm a physician, not an engineer. That's _your_ job.”

“Yes, well I was ordered to the surface by our Commander and T’lek was out of comission for a while, things happen.”

“Speaking of things, _great_ job crashing the pod.”

Eryn scowled. “I lost power. What do you expect me to do, _mind meld_ it into submission?”

“No, but you could have tried nagging at it. Ow!”

Eryn grinned as her smack landed hard on his shoulder. “That's for the sass, Lieutenant.” They made it to the clearing where the ship was marked on her tricorder and she pulled down the cloaking mechanism. She frowned when she saw the ship. The outside didn't look too bad, but it was clear the travel through the Breach had been rough on the hull and probably damaged the shields.

Eryn opened the hatch on the run-about and stepped inside. She took a deep breath and couldn’t stop the small sigh of bliss that left her lips at the familiar scent of metal and stale air that always seemed to inhabit the _Godavari_. It was like returning home, stepping into the ship. She hadn’t realized just how much she had missed her ship. With a slight pat to the wall she whispered. “Don’t worry, baby. I’m back.” walking down the dark passages back to engineering. Bohlran stopped at the main generator and switched on their back up power. Eryn inhaled a hiss as a few sparks shot from one console while a few others were flashing red error signals.

“Shit.” she breathed, going to the storage case on a far wall and grabbing a few tools. She then shoved herself underneath one of the maintenance consoles to get it running.

Bohlran crossed his arms and leaned against the wall beside her. “Speaking of sass, you and T’lek are butting heads more than usual. You guys can’t even go one conversation without chewing each other's heads off. That’s not like you at all. Usually you can at least mediate frustrations over tea or something.”

Eryn grumbled from where sh worked, laying on her back with wires falling down past circuitry and computer chips. Bohlran grinned smugly.

“I didn’t quite catch that.”

With a huff, Eryn pushed herself out from underneath the console. “T’lek hasi a stick so far up his ass he can’t seem to make sense.”

Bohlran frowned, his antennae shifting slightly. “You’re not exactly being cooperative with him either, _Sunshine_.” He didn’t even flinch with the killing glare she shot at him. She sat up roughly and wiped raven hair from her eyes.

“Because I’m sick of people like him.”

“‘People like him’?”

“Vulcans. Starfleet.” Eryn grumbled. “Just waiting for me to screw up, to make one big mistake so they can say ‘We told you so,’ I don’t need to have him reminding me that I fucked up, Bohlran. I don’t need him telling me things are bad ideas. I _know_ all that stuff. I know I’m screwed if we ever get back, I don’t need him declaring it for the world to hear.” She rubbed her hand along the metal plating of her prosthetic and frowned at her feet.

“Eryn. He’s our friend. Yes, a bit blunt, but no one wants to see you fail. Not even him.”

“He’s a stickler for the rules, Bohl. He may not say everything, but even I would be disappointed in him if he didn’t report something. I don’t want to hide it. I’ll own up to all the decisions I have made, but I don’t need to be nagged like a child about it.” She grunted as she laid back down and shoved herself back under the console. “Toss me the spanner over there?”

Bohlran sighed, and with a mutter, passed her the tools. “So, how exactly are you planning on fixing the warp nacelles?”

“Did the plasma run out?”

“I’m not sure. They didn’t look cracked.” He answered.

“I’ll just have to see. I may have to make it up as I go.” Eryn said, elbow deep in the cuts of the machine.

“Is that your main strategy?”

“Usually, yeah.”

Eryn had always been attracted to ships, machines, anything she could tinker with. After she had been adopted by colonist Elizabeth Dawson and and her wife, Marina Torres-Dawson, they soon moved back to Earth and she couldn’t get enough of the mechanical toys that had been gifted for the new child or the different prototypes her Mamá received for her job. It wasn’t until she joined Starfleet at age seventeen that Eryn actually received schooling in anything involving technology and even then, she always did better with trial-and-error. It was unorthodox and risky at times, but it was what worked best for her and she had trained under one of the best engineering units in Starfleet.

With a tug of one wire and another flick of her wrist with the spanner she closed up the console and moved over towards the main engine. It took the brunt of the damage from the Breach. She sighed when she actually got a good look at it though. “Damn.”

“What?” Bohlran asked.

“Well, first of all, the dilithium chamber has been compromised. Cracked, not broken. But still, too much energy and boom, there goes our dilithium crystals.” She muttered, taking in the damage. “Then there’s the plasma regulator, the warp nacelles, the antimatter unit, and don’t even get me _started_ on the impulse drive!”

Bohlran looked a bit blindsided and his antennae straightened slightly. “Wait, all of them are down?”

“Not down, but definitely not liking how we got here. Ugh, how am I going to fix this, Bohl? We can’t get in the air like this! We don’t have any of the parts we need. I have _some_ replacements in storage but not that many.” She leaned back on the guard rail that separated the walkway from the main warp drive core and crossed her arms. “Whatever this . . . magic or whatever is here, it’s crazy powerful and our tech doesn’t like it at all.”

“Are we stuck here then?”

“I don’t think so. I could probably rig something to get us up and running, albeit rudimentary, but that’s just one fix to many problems. Is Thedas even in Federation space? We could be galaxies away.” She let her head fall back so she stared at the ceiling as she thought a moment, letting out measured breaths. “I’m going to head to the Cargo bay, if you need anything from medical...”

“On it.”

Eryn sighed as she moved through engineering to get to the cargo bay. Luckily most of the backup systems were still running, she hoped the elements wouldn’t be too hard on the ‘ _Vari_ . Eryn wanted to grab another uniform and Josephine had asked for any example of formal wear that she had so she was going to grab her dress uniform too. Why they lugged those around she wasn’t sure, but it would come in handy somehow. She also wanted to take inventory of what parts they did have in case they got _extremely_ lucky. They wouldn’t of course, but if she didn’t check she’d just have to venture out later anyway.

Once Eryn collected all the supplies she needed she met Bohlran back outside the ship and enabled the cloak. It wouldn’t do any good to have animals or anyone else in Thedas to find their ship and mess with it. There was still the possibility that they would bump into it or the cloak would fail, but that wasn’t a huge concern. Bohlran grinned when he noticed the two sets of uniforms in her arms.

“Oo, planning a fancy event.”

“Shut up.” Eryn chuckled playfully. “It’s for the stupid dance thing Nakith ordered me to go to. They wanted to see our formal attire.”

Bohlran snorted. “I’m pretty sure they are the type of people that expect dresses and flowing fabrics, not dress uniforms.”

Eryn shrugged. “It’s the best we’ve got.” she said. “They wanted to see so I’ll show them.” and Bohlran couldn’t help but chuckle at his friend as he pulled the cloak back up over his head so that he wouldn’t draw too much attention to himself. He watched Eryn critically as she took the lead into Skyhold. She was carrying her left shoulder funny and he wondered how long it had been since she gave her prosthetic a check-over.

Crossing into the courtyard outside of the main hall, Bohlran said. “I should do a tune up on your prosthesis.” He didn’t push because she didn’t react well to those kinds of things, but he also knew she was shit at actually taking care of herself. He saw her shrug it off and scowled slightly. “Eryn. You said you got caught in snow in that avalanche. You need to get that checked by someone.”

“It’ll be fine. I need to drop this off with Josephine and-- Hey!” He grabbed her arm and proceeded to drag her towards the blacksmith where she had set up her bedroom originally. He knew from what she had told her about the place that not many people frequented it during midday. “Bohl let me go.”

“Nope, you’ve put it off too long. I haven’t done a biosynthetic check on you since drydock.” He took her bundle and set it on the cot in her room before forcing her with his ‘medical stare’ to sit down. She did so with a huff and a roll of her eyes. She knew better than to fight with him when he went all Doctor on her.

“Let me guess, you grabbed your gear from the ‘ _Vari_.”

“Of course. I’m a doctor, aren’t I?” Bohlran flashed her a winning grin before he opened his med-kit and started to work. In order to do a full diagnostic he would remove the prosthesis from the artificial socket and check to make sure all the systems were clean and functioning. Opening the access panel he detached it and lifted the arm from Eryn to sit on the cot. Eryn left with the mechanical implant that connected to her shoulder, a few blinking circuits visible in the dim room.

Eryn leaned back against the wall, used to the lack of arm from these check ups and she kicked her feet up on the chair he was sitting on. “I’m sure it’s fine. I checked it over after the avalanche and it hasn’t been glitching or anything.”

“That doesn’t mean there’s nothing wrong. You may be an engineer, but I’m the doctor. Now just relax, hopefully it won’t take too long.” Bohlran insisted, opening up the different panels of the arm to check every system.

Eryn was glad that she had her secluded room in the loft above the blacksmith. It gave some privacy that probably wouldn’t have been attainable any other way. Taking off her arm in the middle of Skyhold wasn’t exactly the best idea. She assumed that they had prosthetics in Thedas. Dagna, a dwarf that kept wanting to take samples of her, made it clear that they were usually made of wood or some type of iron. Wires, data chips, and sensor panels were not something people in Skyhold were used to seeing or would be calm about. She pulled the cuff of her sleeve over to look at her left shoulder, watching the alternating blinks between red and green where the limb would reconnect. Knowing it would take a while, Eryn picked up her tricorder to check some of her previous scans of the Breach and the area around Miel before she heard the door below open and close. For a moment she thought that it was just the smith returning to his work, but then the footsteps ascended the stairs.

“Shit.” Eryn breathed, sitting up straight and setting her tricorder on the bed beside where Bohlran was working. Who would be coming up there now?

A knock sounded on the door, one of Leiliana’s scouts. “Lieutenant Dawson. Commander Cullen asked if you still were to meet him to go over reports?” he said through the door and Eryn cursed under her breath.

“I . . . uh, yes. Tell him I’ll be right there.” she said, grabbing for the thick leather jacket Vivienne had insisted she wear in place of her tattered uniform, and pulled it over her shoulders. She looked to Bohl. “What are the odds that you’re already done?”

Bohlran deadpanned a look at her. His antennae were bent slightly in annoyance. “Slim. You’ve got moisture in the wiring, dents in the metal that have cut into some of the circuitry. _This_ is why most people put the protective skin casing over it.” She shot him a look but knew he was right. She _could_ have finished her synthetic arm with an artificial skin that would have protected all the components of the arm from moisture, the elements, and wear, but that involved a process she’d never really been ready for yet.

“Fine fine. I need to go to this meeting. I’ll . . . see you later.” She wanted to punch the shit-eating grin off of his face, but instead she made sure the thick jacket covered her shoulder and left the room, following the scout out of the smithy. She veered off from the scout’s trail to take the stairs up to the battlements to get to Cullen’s faster. He was ready for her because before she could even knock he called for her to enter. He was leaning over a few papers at his desk when she walked in and he looked up at her with a smile. A smile that threatened to make her knees wobble.

“Ah, there you are. I was surprised when you were late.”

“Just sidetracked. We got back from checking out the ship and Bohlran decided to mother me. I apologize for the delay.”

“Not a problem at all.” Cullen said, looking back down to his papers. Eryn watched his shoulders move under the furry pauldron he wore and couldn’t help but wonder what kind of animal died to make that thing. “While he was away, Miel wanted to make sure we got a good idea of your situation with your crew.”

Eryn nodded. “We took a look around the ship. It seems our technology didn’t like the trip through the Breach or, however we got here. I’m not sure how I’ll get all the pieces fixed, but I may able to patch it enough to get us up in the air again.” she explained. “The tricky part is figuring out how to get back.”

Cullen nodded and pushed a few papers around before looking back up at her. “I’m assuming you have begun preparations for Halamshiral.”

“Oh yes. Dress fittings, etiquette lessons, dance lessons. It’s a whole lot of fun.” Eryn said sarcastically. Cullen chuckled, shaking his head a little.

“Well, Josie has asked me to help teach you some of the tactical importances of Orlais and a few of the political situations. I’m not a fan of dealing with Orlesians and their _Game_ , but I do have an idea of the information that may be important for you to understand.”

Eryn’s head spun with all the information she received. Names of nobles and influential individuals that she may be put into contact with, different subjects that she could bring up if asked and certain subjects to avoid. She found their military situation most interesting, but she could tell that the subject annoyed Cullen greatly and she couldn’t help but laugh at his frustration. “I’m glad you find me amusing, Lieutenant.” he said with a grumpy tone in his voice.

Eryn giggled behind her hand and tried to muffle the sound through pursed lips. “Oh no. No not at all, _Commander_.” She sat in a chair in front of his desk, both relaxing through the lesson that really became more of a casual talk after a while.

His eyebrow quirked upward. “No? Sure seems as if you have found something quite humorous.”

Eryn stifled a small snort. “No no, it’s not . . . what?” she started as his gaze turned concerned and he stared at her with an uncommon intensity. Her shoulders stiffened under his eyes. “Cullen?”

“Your arm.” he all but whispered and Eryn started, forgetting that she was supposed to be keeping the jacket covering her left side.

“Shit!” she gasped, standing in surprised and yanking the collar of the jacket back around from where it had slipped with her earlier laughter. The chair clattered behind her with her sudden movement and she fumbled to find words. Was he scared of her? Freaked out? _Disgusted?_ “I’m so sorry. I-I . . . uhm, I didn’t meant to startle you. I just . . .”

“Are you hurt?”

Eryn stared blankly at him. Hurt? He was _worried_ about her? She didn’t expect that sort of reaction from the commander, no matter how nonchalant their growing friendship had become. “I . . . no. No. I’m fine. Bohlran just wanted to run diagnostics on my prosthesis. To make sure it wasn’t damaged while I was away.” Eryn held tightly to the jacket, holding it around her. T’lek had gotten in her head too, she was worried about freaking out the populace, about giving away too much.

Cullen stood slowly from his chair and let out a breath. “Thank the Maker. You had me worried.”

“Worried?” Eryn’s face twisted slightly in confusion, “It’s a prosthesis. Nothing to worry about. The actual arm is already gone.” she said, trying to add humor to the situation and she started when Cullen was suddenly standing before her. When had he moved from his desk? He was standing right before her, looking down at her with a small amused chuckle but the worry was still visible in his eyes.

“Just startled I guess.” he said with a small sigh. “May I see?” His request left her a bit rattled but she grinned.

“Why commander. We hardly know each other.” she teased. She saw his face pink and he rubbed the back of his neck nervously. She had learned early on that this was a natural reflex of his. She liked it. “If you want.” she added more seriously, using her right arm to pull the jacket off and expose the artificial socket.

“Maker’s breath.” he breathed as he looked, never seeing anything of the like. His hand ghosted over the few exposed pieces of the cybernetics, questions pouring through his mind that he kept to himself. He was sure if he asked any of these questions that he wouldn’t understand her answer anyway. His latent templar abilities didn’t feel any magic around it but he could feel a buzz like when a mage casts an lightning attack. Something primal and strong. “This is safe?”

“Perfectly.” Eryn assured him, smiling tenderly as she watched his expression change between confusion, fascination, and concern multiple times during his inspection. It looked like he had so many questions on his tongue and she wished that she could answer them. “Don’t worry. It’s just electricity. It works with my body and some cybernetics. It’s rudimentary compared to our starships.” Why she thought that would reassure him she wasn’t sure but she tried.

He gently placed his hand against the cool metal of her shoulder implant and then looked back up into her eyes. There was that smile again. “I can’t even imagine this type of device being anything other than extraordinarily advanced. Though I must admit, your ship was not what I was expecting. It looks like nothing I have ever seen.”

She felt his breath on her skin, the heat from his hand on her neck. It spread to her cheeks as she was sure she was flushed. She’d had a few minor relationships with people prior to joining starfleet, but she seemed to be quite inept in actually maintaining strong emotions. She always blamed it on her Vulcan DNA but she also knew she was just afraid of getting close. She smiled nervously. “Heh, if you thought that was impressive you should see the ship I was ensign on for a year. The _Enterprise_ is one of the--”

Her words faded as, in a move she hadn’t anticipated, Cullen’s warm lips pressed up against hers. Whatever she had been about to say completely left her mind as suddenly she was swept away in the feel of his warmth against her, soft and kind, yet purposeful. In an instant she was kissing him back, feeling herself glide against his lips and his hand slide to the back of her neck. She could feel the calluses there from handling a sword and the tips of his fingers brushed through the hair at the nape of her neck. It broke all too soon when a crash sounded out in the courtyard and they pulled away, startled. Both flushed and stammering.

“Maker. I . . . forgive me. I don’t know what came over me.” he turned away from her slightly as if ashamed or embarrassed. Maybe both. He turned back to her after a moment. “I sincerely apologize.”

“No no. It . . . it was nice.” Eryn said softly and cleared her throat. “I . . . I should go. It was good spending time with you.” she stammered, grabbing up her jacket and rushing out of the office before another word could be said.

* * *

 

( _Star Trek: The Next Generation_ ) Biosynthetic Limb Reference:  
Eryn’s does not have any skin-like covering but the makings of it is similar.

( _Star Trek: The Next Generation_ ) Data Cybernetics Reference:  
An example of what the exposed area of her prosthesis looks like.

( _Enterprise_ ) Andorian Reference Image:  
Just reminder for Bohlran. Also, I love little child Andorians!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for shitty kissing scenes. I'm out of practice in writing romance and fluff


	17. Battlement Arrangement

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Winter Palace preparation and some interference from our favorite omnipresent pest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long lull in updates! My senior year of college has been crazy and I've been dealing with a 76+ day migraine/headache that is threatening to kill both my body and sanity. This is a short update, but I hope after I graduate on Saturday I may be able to get back on writing!

Cullen spent the next few days trying to avoid Eryn, embarrassed and flustered from the kiss. He couldn’t believe he had done such a thing. He had  _ kissed  _ Eryn. He was never that bold! With a sigh he folded up some of his missives and readied to return to drills. They had broken for lunch and, since he wasn’t feeling too hungry, he had wanted to catch up on some paperwork. Even though he was trying to keep his mind occupied, Cullen still thought of her lips. How they felt on his, the slight coppery taste, the smell of woodsmoke and metal from the blacksmith that clung to her clothes. He pulled his cloak tighter around his shoulders and left his office back towards the training grounds. The chill of the mountains helped to clear his mind enough so he could focus by the time he crossed into Solas’ rotunda.

It was purely by chance that he decided he would go see if anything needed to be done in the war room before he joined his troops. It was thus, purely by happenstance that he walked in on Vivienne and Josephine circling around Eryn like predators on a hunt.

“Surely dear you understand the ramifications of anything out of the ordinary. This is a very important event.”

Eryn sighed loudly. Cullen had to wonder how long she had been dealing with the nagging. “I understand that part. What I don’t understand is . . .  _ this _ .” she gestured towards Josephine's desk, Cullen not wanting to call attention to himself too soon. Why was he even listening in on this?

The ambassador huffed. “This design is the latest in Orlesian fashion. You will blend in marvelously and look fabulous.”

“With the discussed alterations of course.” Vivienne added firmly.

“I already told you, I’m not going to do that.” Eryn snapped quickly. “I’m not wearing some sort of, of, prosthetic  _ cleavage _ .” 

“My dear. You will be a spectacle at best in Orlais. Not only with your complexion and . . . accessories,” Vivienne gestured to her arm. “While we want you to remain a distraction, I hardly think that such glaring differences would be a good idea.”

Eryn bit back a snarl. “I’m not going to hide who I am just so people will feel more comfortable around me.” she hissed. “I will not be ashamed of myself!”

Cullen was startled by hearing all of this. He had known Eryn would be going to Halamshiral with them, at the Inquisitor’s request and the orders of her superior, but he had assumed that she would simply be forced into the gaudy uniforms that the rest of the inquisition were wearing. Apparently that was not so. Vivienne was trying to make Eryn look more . . . he wasn’t sure what it was. Yes, he guessed he had noticed the lieutenant’s lack of breasts in passing, but he never really fixated on it. It didn’t seem too odd, just like it was a part of herself. The way Eryn bristled however, it was clear that she wasn’t as confident in being herself as she seemed to want to portray. Though all Cullen could think of now was what the woman looked like underneath her shirt.

“We are not asking that of you, Ms. Dawson.” Josephine said softly, looking concerned. “We do not want you to be ashamed, we simply think you should portray a more . . . familiar image. The Game is very strategic and the nobles at Halamshiral will talk about your presence as it is. Madame De Fer and I were simply considering--”

“If you were considering my feelings you should know you don’t need to worry about it.” Eryn interrupted. “I don’t have any. Or, I’m not supposed to.”

“I do not understand.” Josephine said.

Eryn sighed. “Part of my lineage, vulcan, it’s not to say they are emotionless, they just have very strong emotions that they work to control, suppress to better themselves. That along with my mother’s half . . .” Eryn’s hands fidgeted nervously. “I have been told most of my young adult life that my emotions can be dangerous.”

“But you do have them dear.” Vivienne refuted.

“Yes. I guess I misspoke. I guess what I am saying is that you do not need to worry about my sensibilities.” Eryn said and looked to Josephine. “You want to make a statement. Show these . . .  _ Orlesians _ who I am and get their attention off of Miel? I know how to do that, but it won’t be your way.”

Josephine prickled. “I must insist. You are new to this culture and what would work in your culture may not--”

“They like things that aren’t like them, yes? Like to talk? I can do that. Please.” Eryn said softly. “And besides, I look horrendous in a dress.”

With a sigh, Cullen saw Josephine concede to hand over control to the foreign girl and Cullen tried to quickly back out of the office doorway before anyone noticed he had been privy to the conversation. His mind was reeling. No emotions? So the kiss . . .? He shook his head. No, he couldn’t let these thoughts distract him. It was probably for the best anyway. They had to prepare the troops for the Winter Palace and then, for Adamant.

*****

Eryn, fuming from her conversation earlier in the day, had a lot of pent up energy to unleash. She wanted to tinker, she was good at that, but she didn’t have any way to make repairs as of now. So instead, she made the short trek out to the stables to see if the man, what was his name? Blackward? Something like that, to see if he had any tools that would be useful. The man jumped when she walked in, turning as he heard her footsteps.

“Ah, miss. What can I do for you?” Eryn couldn’t help but wonder how he got his beard to stay styled like it was in the winds of Skyhold.

“Hello. I was wondering if I could take a look at the tools you have available to you here? The ones with the blacksmith are . . . indisposed.” She didn’t want to explain her disgust with how archaic they were.

“Well, there won’t be much difference in mine. More for woodwork.” Blackwall said with a small smile, gesturing towards a pile of tools on his workbench next to a wood carving he was making. Eryn went over and frowned. There were chisels and hammers and the like, but nothing useful to her. If all they had for metalworking was tools like these, she wasn’t sure they’d ever be able to get the  _ Godavari _ in the air again.

Blackwall seemed to see her hesitation in her expression. “I apologize that I can’t help you more.”

“No. No, it was too much to hope for. Thank you, uh . . .”

“Blackwall.”

“Ah, right. Blackwall. Thank you.”

Eryn left the barn after that, hearing a few of the horses nickering  as she passed. She found she liked the creatures more than she originally thought she would and she smiled as she stopped to pet the nose of one.

“Hm, such a tender touch. Who would have known.” The voice startled Eryn and caused one of the horses to paw anxiously at the ground. She spun and saw the familiar smug look of Q.

“What do you want?” she said with a groan, turning away from him to get away from the barn.

“Is that anyway to greet me after so long?” Q tsked and a flash of white surrounded him and Eryn as he quickly teleported them to a secluded part of the battlements. Q lounged against the stone. “There, much better.”

Eryn groaned with frustration and disgust. “Dammit, Q.” she sighed.

“Oh, _cher_. I see your problem you know. Trying to find the materials you need.” he said simply, “Perhaps there is a way we can both get what we need?”  
“What are you talking about?”

“My my! You forget, all powerful being, yes? I can get access to the supplies you need to fix your ship.”

Eryn glared suspiciously. “And how would this benefit you, exactly?” She didn’t trust Q as far as she could throw him, especially with that little gleam in his eye. 

“It will be mutually beneficial. There is simply something I need you to retrieve for me from the Palace you will be attending. I’d do it myself, but where would the fun be in all of that?”

“No. I’m not helping you steal something, Q.”

“It won’t even be noticed,  _ cher _ . Just one tiny statuette. A figurine if you will.”

“And what does this do for you?”

Q tsked. “So suspicious. If I give you all of the answers, how will we ever have any fun?” He grinned at her. “Let’s just say that it will be as helpful to me as those plasma coils will be to you. You know you can’t get anything like that here, dear lieutenant.” he stretched out his hand, knowing he held a promising deal. “What do you say?”

Eryn stared at him with a hard gaze, watching him. She remembered the reports from Earth, how Q was the reason for the borg invasions all those years ago. He liked to play with humanity like pawns in a chess game. She swatted his hand away. “I won’t help you put any of these people in danger.”

Q chuckled. “You think too highly of me,  _ cher _ !” he chortled a little harder before adding. “Very well. Think on it. I’m sure you’ll be able to see the logic in working together. You are, after all, part vulcan.” And then he was gone, leaving Eryn alone on the battlements. She groaned, holding her forehead. It was tempting to take up his offer, though she wouldn’t admit it. She knew he was right, half of the stuff she needed to fix the ship didn’t exist in Thedas. However, she also knew that anything Q had planned in this world wouldn’t end well.


End file.
